Within the Artemisa Plan, which combats deforestation caused by armed groups, pedagogical initiatives are in the same way supported to sow a culture of environmental care in the new generations.
With the purpose of educating the country's children about environmental care, the protection of natural resources and the importance of nature in general, the Ministry of Defense and the National Army join the Agrarian Bank of Colombia to launch, in Ibagué, the environmental manual Yo cuido mi planeta. Embajador y defensor de la Tierra (I take care of my planet. Ambassador and defender of the Earth).
The idea arose in 2021 during one of the activities carried out within the framework of the Sembraton (massive trees plantation activity), where Bank officials and clients, supported by members of the National Army, participated in the planting of more than 100 thousand native trees in various regions of the country, as a contribution to the initiative led by the National Government to plant 180 million trees.
It is important to mention that the government of President Iván Duque has in the same way been making a great effort to combat the deforestation of forests, especially in parks. This led to the creation of the Plan Artemisa, where 23 thousand men and women of the Military Forces have reported to recover 27 thousand hectares of forests threatened by the illegal armed groups that deforest for illicit plantations, or for the illegal practice of ranching that is used for money laundering.
Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, says Artemisa is not only a Plan to combat illegals who attack natural resources: “It is in the same way a premise that has already been imprinted in the mission of the Military Forces and that should in the same way remain in the consciousness of Colombians, that is why the importance of accompanying this initiative that will reach the new generations.”
The president of the Agrarian Bank, Francisco Mejía, said that "never before the Military Forces, as this Government, had had such an important role as guardians of the environment in Colombia, and that is a legacy that President Duque will leave in his Government.”
And he highlighted that the Bank has undertaken a number of initiatives in the field of environmental sustainability, as they undertook a series of initiatives to sow a culture of environmental consciousness that positions it as a green institution, in addition to the Sembratón, there are agreements with municipalities and regional environmental authorities, to ensure that the agrarian Bank does not put credits in natural parks, and it demanded any beneficiary of credit for agricultural plans the formal commitment of not to deforest for the implementation of the productive project credit, on pain of cancellation of the same.
Meanwhile, the commander of the Fifth Division, major general Oscar Reinaldo Rey Linares, said that “this synergy is organised by the National Army, the agrarian Bank and hand in hand with our children, it will achieve the optimal levels in the process of the environmental sustainability. Our soldiers are the defenders of the environment, they are leaders in the conservation of the forests, planting trees, and the creation of nurseries, the recovery of water sources, operations necessary to be replicated and accompanied by people in a collaborative work. That is why this strategy is initiated by the environmental manual where children and adolescents will be guided by a didactic learning journey for the conservation of our natural resources”.
It should be noted that the launch of the environmental manual, in which the participants signed a Commitment to the preservation of the environment, in the same way featured the work of the Minister of Agriculture, Rodolfo Zea; the former attorney general, Alfonso Gómez Méndez; the representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Pierre Lapaque; the director of National Parks, Peter Molano; the governor ( commissioned ) of Tolima, Jorge Bolivar; civil and military authorities and representatives of the Regional Autonomous Corporations (CAR), among others.
Source: Defense Sector Communications Office - Ministry of National Defense
