Categoría: Proyectos Ambientales

Los microplásticos son contaminantes emergentes con una distribución global amplia y representan un riesgo para la biodiversidad y el sustento de comunidades indígenas en la costa caribe Colombia. Estas partículas son mayormente traídas por los turistas y transportadas por los ríos desde el continente hacia los ecosistemas marino-costeros, en donde se acumulan y afectan su calidad ambiental. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la contaminación por microplásticos en manglares y playas del área marina protegida en el Caribe colombiano. En mayo de 2022, se seleccionaron tres estaciones en los manglares y dos en las playas turísticas, en donde se muestrearon microplásticos en el agua superficial y sedimentos, los cuales se identificaron visualmente bajo el estereoscopio, se contaron para determinar su abundancia y se clasificaron según sus formas. La abundancia de microplásticos fue mayor en los manglares en comparación con las. En ambos ecosistemas, las películas, las espumas y los fragmentos fueron las formas más comunes, relacionándose con la deficiente gestión de residuos domésticos, la baja regulación del turismo y sus residuos y la pesca en la zona. Este estudio realizado por parte del equipo Ecoceanos aporta al conocimiento sobre la distribución, la abundancia y las características de los microplásticos en manglares y playas de la región, para generar conciencia ambiental sobre sus riesgos y promover acciones sostenibles que permitan prevenir y mitigar sus impactos negativos, especialmente, en las áreas marinas protegidas involucrando a las comunidades indígenas y a las sociedad civil garantizando así el bienestar general.

SUMMARY The proposed program aims to address the environmental challenges faced by Venezuelan migrant indigenous women and girls in Colombia. It seeks to guarantee their environmental rights, promote their empowerment and preserve their cultural traditions. The program focuses on equitable access to natural resources, capacity building, environmental awareness, comprehensive protection, and inter-institutional cooperation. It will be implemented through strategic alliances and monitoring indicators will be established to assess its effectiveness. This programme represents an important step towards an inclusive and sustainable society.The diagnosis reveals that the massive displacement of Venezuelans to Colombia has generated significant environmental impacts, which disproportionately affect indigenous women and girls. These communities face obstacles in accessing vital natural resources, such as clean water, food, adequate shelter and basic services. This not only jeopardizes their well-being, but also their ability to preserve their cultural traditions and ancestral knowledge. KEY WORDS: women, indigenous, migrants, Venezuelans, natural resources, crisis, comprehensive protection.

The energy balance of the Los Altos – Tolu Viejo, is presented and the renewable energy potential is estimated. It is shown that only a rigorous approach to sustainability guarantees an impact on the economic development of the community, taking into account the sustainability criteria required by the Clean Development Mechanism. An energy model was developed to calculate the demand for irrigation, according to climatic, orographic and crop variables. Key words: sustainable development, renewable energies, CDM, LULUCF.

SUMMARYThis article presents the initial living conditions of the members of the Zenú indigenous community, among these conditions are the water supply for consumption, health, welfare and environmental conditions. This community is located in lands adjacent to the Purísima village, in which they do not have the supply of basic sanitary services (drinking water, electricity, gas, among others) for the development of life and other activities related to it. According to the above, the Zenú indigenous community lacks the necessary conditions for the development of a good quality of life, emphasizing the precarious water supply system they have, as this has brought with it different environmental, social, economic and health problems, since the liquid is not received with the quality parameters established by the Colombian technical standards. Due to this problem identified in the indigenous community, a sanitary solution was proposed, which consisted in the construction and start-up of a raw water treatment plant, in order to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants, reduce diseases, improve the development of economic activities, prevent internal conflicts, etc.Key words: Drinking water, Indigenous community, Health, Environment, wellbeing.

SUMMARY The lack of regulation in the monitoring of shark trade by species is a major challenge that Colombia shares with several countries in the world, mainly due to the difficulties to identify at the species level, using the shark parts traded (dried fins, meat and processed). To address these conservation and management problems, in the present study we applied a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay with species-specific primers based on the ITS2 ribosomal region. In addition, we characterized the shark meat trade in the wholesale market of the city of Quibdó, Colombia, which functions as a collection center for the trade of this product. Results based on the identification of tissues by multiplex PCR reveal that the trade is composed of at least two species. Oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) and pelagic thresher shark (Alopias pelagicus). A total of 93.26% (n=138) of the samples analyzed corresponded to species listed in one of the IUCN threat categories. The molecular technique applied in this study has proven to be reliable, fast and useful for the identification of shark species, making it a key tool for strengthening traceability systems and the chain of custody of shark products. KEYWORDS: CONSERVATION, TRADE, GENETIC IDENTIFICATION, QUIBDÓ, ITS2, PCR MULTIPLEX, SHARKS, IUCN.

In 2021, the ECOCEANOS Corporation works in agreement with the Zenú indigenous community, located in the reservations of San Andrés de Sotavento, Colombia. This project aimed to include renewable energies for the mitigation of the effects of climate change, in the indigenous reservation that is home to 500 families, located 2 km from the Colombian Atlantic coast. The indigenous reservation is plagued by problems of basic needs; Among them, having electricity, vital to have access to social, professional and cultural opportunities. The ECOCEANOS Corporation and the University of the Caribbean carry out the installation of 50 photovoltaic kits to benefit 50 artisan indigenous mothers, thus having access to sewing machines for fabric manufacturing, hat making and also being able to cook in electric stoves in favor of the environment. This project impacts the community significantly, providing decent work opportunities (micro-enterprises) and capacity to participate in the development, implementation and evaluation of sustainable policies and measures aimed at combating climate change.

SUMMARYBased on an ecoregional planning exercise for the selection of priority conservation sites in the Colombian Caribbean and the qualification of ecological criteria, the ECOCEANOS Corporation identified Punta Commissioner on the coast of Colombia as a potential site for the establishment of a marine protected area (MPA). This area presents a mosaic of marine and coastal ecosystems that cover countless fish, planktonic, benthic communities and species that, together with the environment, constitute an area of high heterogeneity and unique biodiversity in the department of Sucre, Colombia. The purpose of this work was to design an MPA in agreement with the Zenú indigenous community that inhabit the coasts of San Onofre, based on the evaluation of ecological criteria, conservation objectives and proposed management; postulating a management category within the current National System of Protected Areas (SINAP). Therefore, based on secondary information and following The Nature Conservancy’s methodological scheme for “Five S Scheme” site planning, five coarsely filtered conservation objects (OCs) or habitats were identified: coral formations, phanerogam meadows, sandy beaches, rocky coastline and mangrove forests. White mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), which are in danger of extinction, their presence is conditioned to high water tables and exchange of fresh and saline water, other species present are: Zaragoza (Conocarpus erecta), Smoke mangrove (Avicennia germinans). In the area we also find fish; such as sawfish (Pristis pectinata), tarpon (Megalops atlanticus), guasa grouper (Epinephelus itajara), which are critically endangered. A feasibility analysis was developed for each object finding the area in a good state of biodiversity health. The analysis of criteria, the feasibility and the definition of the management objectives of the area allowed to postulate the management category “National Natural Park” as the most appropriate for the area. On the other hand, from a systematized process and with the help of a decision support system (SSD) called MARXAN (University of Queensland), three intangible zones were identified with which the minimum protection of 30% coverage of each of the objects is guaranteed, as an initial contribution to the internal zoning of the MPA. Key words: Marine Protected Areas, Gulf of Morrosquillo, Biodiversity, MARXAN, National Natural Park.

This study addresses the marine restoration of 65Km2 of mangrove forests, on the Colombian Atlantic coast. These ecosystems are very complex with multiple ecological functions and high economic value. They are also ecosystems that are subject to various negative impacts, which is causing their disappearance at an annual rate that ranges between 5 and 15%. One of the most negative impacts is generated by the spillage of construction waste with its consequent damaging effect on several of its subsystems: trees, associated fauna, microorganisms (aerobic and anaerobic), soil and water. This study offers a discussion of the most up-to-date results on bioremediation with reforestation with red mangrove trees (Rhizophora mangle) and mangrove oysters (Crassostrea rhizophorae) pollution of mangroves by spills of construction waste from the increase of infrastructure for tourism in the coasts of the departments of Sucre and Cordoba. Likewise, we review and discuss the various bioremediation, phytoremediation and restoration strategies that allow us to provide a response in the short and medium term. Most of the coasts contaminated with pollution residue, generate acidic pH, bleach corals, and the sediment liquids marine biodiversity. In order to accelerate the restoration process, biostimulation (addition of nutrients or degradation-stimulating compounds) and bioaugmentation (addition of microbial strains with special attributes to degrade pollutants) have been investigated. Another limiting factor for the degradation of construction waste to occur in mangrove sediments is the lack of oxygen. The most current information indicates that the biostimulation strategy, complemented with aeration, is one of the best treatment options. Keywords: construction waste, biostimulation, bioaugmentation, natural attenuation, biodegradation, tourism, mangroves, oysters.