Has Cost Benefit Analysis Improved Decisions in Colombia? Evidence from the Environmental Licensing Process

Reconnecting with the social-political and ecological-economic reality

“…For example, even with ‘government-supported’ mainstream tools, such as CBA, limited actual decision-making influence has been highlighted (e.g. Atkins et al, 2017; Vargas et al, 2020). Also, despite strong evidence of accelerated climate change and cost studies showing that acting now (or ‘yesterday’, since most studies were published years ago) is more cost-effective than no strong or delayed action (e.g.…”

“…The relegation of strong sustainability also compromised clear guiding social-ecological values influencing cross-cutting long-term policy directions to achieve a political economy that focuses on healthy social-ecological states now and into the future. The meaning of 'evidence' and how it is being used has been scrutinised in many works, including Vargas et al (2020), showing that better evidence does not necessarily lead to better decisions and the strategic use of evidence to support certain interests (e.g. Daviter, 2015), highlighting furthermore symbolic, opportunistic and instrumental uses of knowledge and data.…”

Auditoría ambiental de una empresa minera que explota agregados pétreos

“…Todos los recursos minerales en Colombia pertenecen legalmente al estado y son administrados por el Ministerio de Minas y Energía (MME) y supervisada por la Agencia Nacional de Minería (ANM), que otorga concesiones en un solo contrato de 30 años que cubre exploración, construcción de minas y explotación minera y este contrato puede ser renovable por 30 años más; para ello, se requiere una evaluación de impacto ambiental para la obtención de una licencia ambiental [22]. Se entiende la licencia ambiental como un instrumento de política que sirve para integrar la protección ambiental en el proceso de desarrollo, contribuyendo así a lograr un equilibrio entre el desarrollo económico y la protección y preservación del medio ambiente [23]. Esta obtención de licencias ambientales para el sector minero en Colombia es preocupante, por su parte el MME y la ANM de Colombia tienen el reto de enfrentar el problema de la formalización de aproximadamente 300.000 mineros artesanales, dedicados a la extracción de oro, diamantes, esmeraldas, carbón, minerales de construcción, etc.…”

Evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation measures in environmental impact assessments: A comprehensive review of development projects in Korea

“…These studies primarily focus on examining why the implementation rates of mitigation plans in EIAs are low and what institutional changes are necessary for improvement. They also introduce how quantitative assessment techniques can be utilized in EIAs, yet there is a notable deficiency in the analysis of how significantly, and due to which environmental factors, the performance of mitigation plans varies [ 16 , 17 ]. This knowledge is crucial for implementing appropriate mitigation plans that consider the specific environmental contexts of development sites and can mitigate the absence of efficacy in current mitigation approaches [ 18 , 19 ].…”