Exclusive: Colombian President Strives to Make His Country Greener | National Geographic
Colombia is one of the richest countries in terms of biodiversity, and we are also one of the most vulnerable countries in terms of climate change. That gives us a special responsibility, and we need to protect, as soon as possible, the largest amount of territories that are the jewel for Colombians and for humanity. That's why I guard geared up towards accelerating the process of protecting the most valuable resources.
What are the richness that Colombia has? It is not only the marvelous biodiversity of fauna and flora, but also our ethnic diversity. We have many indigenous communities, and we call them our older brothers. What they say to us younger brothers is, "Please protect the most important thing you have: Mother Earth." When I took over the presidency, he said, "Take care of Mother Earth because she is mad." And she was mad. We have suffered the worst natural disasters in Colombia in our history, and anybody who doesn't see that is really, I would say, myopic. They don't see the reality.
After every peace process, there's a backlash, and there's leftovers of the war, and they have to be taken care of. Colombia has had a dramatic change for the best in the last few decades. Last years, we now have peace after 53 years of war. This is a very, very important change for a country that has been devastated by war. But there's one priority that we need to address, which is the demining.
Colombia is still the second most mined country in the whole world after Afghanistan, and if we want to be able to enjoy peace, we need to demine the country. I would say that's priority number one. But, of course, the restitution of land to the peasants, which we are already doing, is also a priority. The sustainable way of developing these areas that were simply left over because of the war is also another priority for people to see change as soon as possible. This is a big challenge that we have now of the post-conflict.
Other resources that are, in a way, liberated because they're not concentrated in waging the war are now being used to protect these areas in a responsible way, in a sustainable way, in order to develop the areas, protect the areas, and especially avoid the damage that some people are doing.
We are the richest country, for example, in the species of birds. We are a paradise for bird watchers. We are a country with tremendous ethnic diversity, a country that is looking to the future with great optimism. But it's so evident that we are destroying Mother Earth. It's so evident that climate change is a reality.
We need to encourage everybody because this is not the problem of one country or a few countries; it is a problem of mankind. We must all be aware that we need to coordinate and work together and stop climate change. Otherwise, our future generations will simply disappear.
And so, anybody who doesn't know about Colombia, the only risk is that you might want to stay there.