July 22, 2024 • 50 mins
El medioambiente, la economía, las tradiciones y la vida de los habitantes de La Mojana, siguen en riesgo por la compleja realidad del río Cauca y el boquete de 'Caregato'. Las inundaciones son una amenaza constante para la región y la realidad es que aun no se ve una solución pronta. En esta segunda parte del especial que trata ese tema, se puede ver que la UNDRD se pasa la pelota de la responsabilidad con el consorcio encargado de cerrar el dique, al tiempo los daños siguen en aumento.
Además, en este capítulo también conoceremos las amenazas que vive San Andrés y Providencia ante la llegada de la temporada de huracanes y la poca preparación que hay para afrontar esa realidad.
Además, en este capítulo también conoceremos las amenazas que vive San Andrés y Providencia ante la llegada de la temporada de huracanes y la poca preparación que hay para afrontar esa realidad.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
The co- podcast, because theenvironment is one of everyone' s subjects.
Hello, how am I doing?Greetings. He speaks to Pepe Morón
and, together with Herlencio and Gutiérrez, we welcome you to this new chapter
of RCN Radio' s eco podcasttoday with a lot of information, initially
(00:27):
following up on a topic that wehave been looking forward to for several weeks
now, a subject that the Mohanainhabitants have been suffering for several years.
And that' s what happens withcharge, because the ball goes from one
side to the other and there's no solution, at least not.
For now we will also be talkingabout the island of San Andrés, Providencia
and Santa Catalina. All this becauseyou remember that we are in the middle
(00:49):
of hurricane season and the situation thereappears increasingly complicated. So, you know,
make yourself a coffee, find yourselfa little corner, comfortable, and
get ready for this environmental journey aroundthe world. Welcome to the theme of
the good day. Today we followup on a situation that we have come
to know and show our listeners whatis happening in the Mohana with the Cauca
(01:14):
River and the gap. Yes,ladies and gentlemen, the dam of the
same one that, due to negligenceand corruption, has not been able to
close the same one that, yearafter year, turns that region of the
country into a real chaos that,under the flood, leaves families homeless,
(01:34):
crops razed, dead and displaced animalsand, worst, an incalculable environmental damage.
How will you give me lencia welcome, as always Hello pepe how nice
to greet you and all the listenersand if you keep moving information about the
floods in the mohana, the rainyseason is still active and the calamity is
getting bigger. Meanwhile, communities areawaiting a real solution from the national Government.
(02:01):
Exactly the lency, because, farfrom a nearby solution, the National
Unit for Risk Management throws the ballwith the contractor in charge of the work
that seeks to close this dam.On the one hand, we have the
National Unit for Risk Management, whichmet urgently with governors, mayors and delegations
from the departments affected by the floodsin the mojana. But it turns out
(02:28):
that during that good meeting it wasdiscussed that it is not possible to close
this cat car bottle, at leastit is not possible this year, as
was provided for in the contract signedby the previous administration. After that which
you comment the lenzi, the lordsof the consortium, the known consortium remember
as r CG, who is incharge of the work, goes out to
(02:52):
say that they did not say that, that if you can not close the
gap, it is for lack inthe payment of the resources that is required
and, as I say, theyare throwing the ball because they did not
finish saying that the lords of theConsortium of RCG, when the unit of
risk management came out to answer withdocument in hand and demonstrating that the reason
(03:15):
of the non- compliance is notthe lack of silver, as they say,
but the growth of the river CaucaPepe and remember all the stories that
we knew in our special chapter aboutthe mojana, the people looking for highlands
to be able to carry their cattle, the inhabitants who told us, how
(03:38):
their houses are covered by water andhow this happens year after years, because
it is a recurring thing. Everythingwe had also we lost it all and
again to start again I have tobe putting practical up, because we are
not giving. That' s agame, and so I have to be
here practically a year later the growingone that got them in and we'
(03:58):
re practically still under the water.Today, our growers, our farmers,
have not been able to plant akill in more than a year. In
other countries, the riverside villages arerich. We have something that' s
the other way around. We,the villages that are riverside are poor.
They' re the poorest. Tezucropesete, sucre as in an abandoned village
that has no two winds. Allthe help that comes you steal it and
(04:20):
those drowned us. They drowned.Then he drowned, even suffocated meals ideas
because we don' t have wood. Then we live on these three tablets
and that' s why it pileseverything up here so we' re not
mons. People are really desperate andthey are at such a point that they
say that you have to declare someonenot pleasant in the region. To the
(04:42):
director of the National Risk Management Unit, Carlos Carrillo, after saying that cat
cart will not be closed this year, I propose as we always go to
the regions punctually to the women's sector if pepe Nuestra compañera en Sincelejo,
Saidan Freilen, has been following themto the whole situation, which leaves
millions of economic losses, hundreds ofpeople affected in at least four departments of
(05:06):
the country and an environmental alert,since this reality is leaving irreparable damage to
the environment of the north of thecountry, as we are gradually ending.
Thus, the inhabitants of the regionof La Mojala, in the department of
their creation what they have had tolive for the last four years, since
(05:28):
the breakup of the Cauca River inthe sector known as the carigato, which
has kept them since then among theNicaraguan water, a courteous thorn dweller of
the sierpe is an odyssey, becausewe are practically not used to this.
This is a prosperous and rich regionof the Mohana, better in Colombia,
because here you live from agriculture,livestock and many more crops with resignation.
(05:56):
Those affected rise day by day knowingthat in this region or clearly agricultural,
the inhabitants of the affected municipalities havenothing to do other than to watch the
yellowish days go to disaster. Wewant that burden to cover us up,
because we' re the winged chava. We have to grow, we want
(06:17):
to sow, we want all theanimals, because we are going to lose
animals here and we have been ableto work and I don' t think
we see a boy and to fighther crowded in Cambuches who invade the road
or simply building wooden structures in theheights inside their homes. That' s
how the wetters live. Apart fromspending the wet days, they must deal
(06:41):
with the invasion of animals that dragsthe river Otman countryside Bedor. They are
also having a big problem, andit is the fact that after six o
' clock in the afternoon, theycan no longer leave because these totally dark
ones that there is no public lightingand what you see most, you don
' t see fish. Here,what you see is snake and villa and
at seven o' clock at night, a person lying here, in this
(07:02):
fagua may have the problem of familyor aggression of one of coughing animentos,
as if it were little. Forthese families, their long list of problems
must add the differences between the RSGconsortium, which carries out the commissioned closure
works and the National Unit for RiskManagement, which refuses to hand over the
(07:23):
resources for the works to be completed. Nelson Martinez, director of the Encaregato
intervention. The work has a dateof 27 November and by that date the
work must be finished, except forsome other sections of type like climatic conditions
(07:43):
or something, but the work willcontinue to work and we are working in
team with the contractor, looking forsolutions that allow us to continue to advance
in that truth. Although the governmenthas only delivered twenty- five million pesos,
the works are progressing by fifty-five percent and the gap is only
45 meters to close Germán, serrano, technical manager. The truth is,
(08:09):
as you' ve seen it,we' re still working, we'
re still expanding, we' restill doing stuffing. We' re going
fifty- five percent, that is, there' s forty- five percent
left to execute. The date isNovember 27th. We' re still working.
The intention is not to stop,but obviously we need flow, cash
(08:33):
flow. The members of the SocialPact for the Mojana prepare a complaint by
omission against the director of the UNGherede, Carlos Carrillo. For us,
the burden of closure is indispensable inorder to begin an economic revival and to
start again from scratch that this nationalgovernment has left us because of its failure
(08:58):
to implement suddenly until the judgments thatare not they have begun through the Office
of the Ombudsman, where the Courtof Condinamarca urges the national government to solve
at once the problem of the Mohana. So we, for that reason,
have also started a series of activities, such as denouncing the new director,
(09:20):
Carlos Carrillos, who does not wantto do anything for us as Mohana,
but that opens the gap. Inthe current situation, the wetters have nothing
to do. There' s verylittle to eat. Farmers are desperate for
debts to banks and waiting only fora miracle to Sara EnriqueÁlvarez Neris.
(09:43):
Right now I am in various tradesbecause to the truth we do not have
the circumstances, because of the floodissues, because in reality, when they
caught carregato, we were confident thathe was welcomed. We invest money,
even if we stop home. Theplots were lost, the crops were lost
because they were confident that soon cargowas received. Obviously, and let'
(10:07):
s see what a drag at thetime of truth is not taken. It
' s about 40 meters wide.Where he is. And you' re
not going to say that cat carcan' t be covered. Car cat,
yes, you can cover it up, but you have to look for
other means of work to accommodate loads, not with these sandbags, because that
' s not what' s goingto catch carigato. In addition, the
national Government' s community pot programmeruined the neighbourhood shops that provided food for
(10:31):
the operation of the second phase ofthe programme, without anyone being held accountable
so far for the resources. NelsonÁlvarez, a member of the Mojana commune
board. In the case of thedepartment of Sucre, with several municipalities where
the operator had more than sixty pots, even the unit of those is owed
(10:54):
that silver to the facilitator. Butthe facilitator got in the trade people he
has in the village shops and inthe sidewalk shops. In May I and
other companions of my sidewalk supplied twenty- five days of Hoya and the shops
were broken, because in the silverthe feeling of the mojana with the second
(11:16):
pots has not arrived after the pilotagethat they gave to the facilitators, either
of sadness, it is desolation andit is almost felt betrayed in what the
President says in several meetings and hassaid at the moment, in the great
Mojana region reigns the sadness, thepoverty abounds and in the midst of the
(11:37):
waters of the Cauca opens way thedesire to get ahead of a thriving and
resilient community. Well, we wantedto know much more than the inhabitants of
the region say and, above all, that point of declaring persona no grata
to the director of the National RiskManagement Unit, Carlos Cartillo. We are
going to another point in the geographyof northern Colombia to know what its inhabitants
(12:01):
say in the face of this situation. Gustavo Cortés, president of a communal
action board of the municipality of AyapelVerde del Cuchillo, is very concerned with
all this situation that comes to usand chimes saying that the flirting charge cannot
be closed. Imagine the Colombian engineeringpractically serves us is what I understand,
(12:22):
because how other countries live in Hollandand he speaks of a theft of three
hundred seventy- seven billion pesos thathave been lost, of a robot not
of a silver that has not servedfor the forest cargo. We, as
a community, demand that the nationalGovernment simply fulfil its obligations as a Government,
(12:43):
as a State, with a communitythat requires it at this time to
close heavy critical points and cancel thedebts of Banco Agrario. The delays he
' s trying to close with thecontractors. We, as a community,
are simply affected, agree, seewhat they are going to do. The
(13:03):
Minister of Agriculture, in her visitand Apel, said that it should be
closed while there were studies of theActuation Fund, which for us are a
study more than much of what isin the Mohana. We all know that
cat carra must be closed and criticalpoints made are the most urgent at the
moment the internal delays and fights betweengovernment and entities or contractors. In this
(13:26):
case, we are careless and Ihope they comply with the obligation, just
as the judgment of the Court ofCodinamarca in the lawsuit filed by the Ombudsman
' s Office for the closure ofthe carregato. Then we ask the national
government to take an interest in itsmojana community. Carrillo, in an intervention
(13:46):
in a political control, mentions wherehe has invested three hundred and seventy-
seven billion pesos in caragatos to somebags of sand. The first thing I
would like to ask is whether thatinvested money was actually invested in caragato or
mohana and that it was invested,because if we are going to make control
(14:09):
of what is invested, we haveto know cost profit, what the communities
have today, because we all knowthe business around public procurement, especially in
this misery that we have in Mohana. Second, how much that investment Carrillo
says took into account the studies Colombia, Dutch and Japanese made by the National
(14:31):
University. There' s a ladynamed Lilian Posada. That is a woman
who gave very serious studies and nogovernment has taken it into account to solve
the problem of mohana, which issedimentation, structurally. It is worrying and
it is hoped, as we listenedto its inhabitants, that this will end
(14:52):
once and for all, that thedam will close, that the Cauca River
will cease to be a problem andthat the losses will cease to be so
large. Speaking not only of economiclosses, but also of environmental losses,
which are incalculable. The g podcaston RCN Radio we want to talk about
(15:15):
a study that has a lot todo with this issue, which shows us
that the situation is not complex onlyin the Colombian territory, because, in
the context of the heavy rains,the most recent report of the year immediately
before offers a vision of the challengesfacing them. We are talking about at
least twenty- seven catastrophic events inLatin America and the Caribbean, with a
(15:37):
total of five hundred and seventy-six victims in the region, this during
the year immediately preceding. In addition, according to the same report, the
region has five point a billion dollarsin insured losses, which constitutes only four
point three percent of the world total. Let us listen to one of the
(16:03):
invited experts and refer to this situation. This is Eduardo Garruño, who tells
us about this study. According tothe natural disasters report of SSRI Institute,
in the year two thousand twenty-three it witnessed several significant natural disasters on
a global level with economic perils thatreached two hundred and eighty billion dollars,
(16:23):
of which one hundred and eight billionwere insured. If we look at the
perspective, a total of 27 catastrophicevents were realistic in Latin America and the
Caribbean. One of the highlights wasHurricane Otis, which affected Mexico and became
the most expensive event in the historyof that country. On the other hand,
it should be noted that, althoughhurricanes in the Caribbean do not usually
(16:47):
hit Colombia directly, we note thatin the year two thousand twenty, hurricanes
ETA Iota reached categories four and fiverespectively. These affected part of the Colombian
territory and destroyed up to two thousandhomes in order and causing minimum insured losses
of between five and ten million dollars. With regard to economic losses, CSSY
(17:08):
believes that losses secured by natural disasterscould double over the next 10 years if
current trends continue. In that context, it is crucial to invest in adaptation
measures, such as the modernization ofbuilding codes and the improvement of public lature,
(17:29):
in order to protect our economies communities. Global figures then, with three
hundred and thirty- two events,seventy- six, one thousand and five
hundred and sixty- nine victims andtwo hundred and ninety- seven million dollars,
reflect a world increasingly exposed to naturalhazards and Colombia is not doing very
(17:52):
well in this whole situation. Accordingto the latest Sonar report of the SSRY
Institute, we see that climate changehas become an evolutionary threat to international security.
We see that altered weather patterns haveincreased the frequency and severity of extreme
events, such as hurricanes, floodsand droughts, causing serious economic and human
(18:18):
repercussions. In fact, a watercrisis is anticipated whose demand exceeds supply by
forty percent by two thousand thirty.Latin America and the Caribbean must take proactive
measures to reduce vulnerability to natural disasters. In this context, being King believes
that collaboration between Governments, businesses andcommunities vital to creating a more resilient and
(18:45):
better prepared region. To face thechallenges of extreme weather. Many thanks to
all students to the oigamer board.Today we have a visit on the RCN
Radio podcast and it is not acommon visit. They' re students who
(19:07):
are getting to know how things workon RCN Radio. They are members of
the Faculty of Social Communication and Journalismof the University of Colombia. I love
the welcome that you are presenting andthat you tell us to see this theme
of the environment. How much youcare, if you' re interested in
(19:27):
welcome, who starts is worth pepe. Thank you for the invitation. I
' m Daniel Lozano, I'm a fourth semester social communication student.
I think that the issue of environmentalcare is an issue that we all care
about. We must all care today, as I feel that it has been
forgotten a lot in previous times andI think it is vitally important to immerse
(19:48):
ourselves in this issue, as wesee that our planet that there is most
damaged by our own actions. ThenI feel it' s a very relevant
subject. If hello, I amwillnd digit Parra, I am also part
of the Fourth Semester Group of theUnitarian of Colombia. And as for the
theme of the ambient day, Ido believe that it is something that owes
us, that circulates to us all, because, in the long term,
(20:11):
it is something that will affect ourway of life. But if something I
want to say with values that wesay always recharge this as from my environment,
about people, as from the common, if you will understand me,
then let' s always say youare the one who has to recycle you
are the one who has to beaware if very few times you are given
this control. Let' s sayto companies or things like that that are
(20:32):
the ones that generate these industrial quantities. Let' s just say pollution on
the planet. Not then, then, yes, apart from putting our support,
obviously each individual one on the careof the environment, I think that
would not be much help if neitheris a stop to these companies that are
the main ones that generate all thispollution around the planet. Fourth semester PP
(20:56):
of communication and have a good voice, at least for radio. You'
re going to hate them so muchThank you. Thank you, thank you,
and we will also greet the teacher. Ay lived in Altagona, a
friend of the house and a friendof the family. A greeting for a
Ceasenense who is also based in thecity of Bogotá, as is her case
and my case is that we havehere a greeting to the teacher Viveana,
who was the one who brought usto this study group, and it is
(21:17):
wonderful to have this kind of visitsduring the presentation of this environmental program PEPE,
so the invitation is always open toall the universities that are visiting us
day by day and we hear whatthe young people think, precisely in front
of the environmental issue that one says, these generations come already with that chip
incorporated, unlike ours. In ourtime, little and nothing was talked about
(21:41):
this environmental issue and how do theydo a different reading? One spoke of
the responsibility of each other. Iwas talking about corporate responsibility and both important
responsibilities to really deal with the climateemergency, which is not in the future
that we are already living. Andall the voices around the environment and their
presno of the are welcome. Ofcourse because he remembers the motto of the
(22:03):
Eco Podcast. The environment is atheme of all and we continue with more
guests to be taught also students ofthe faculty of social communication. Who greets
us now, Valentina, Aspetia,Bueno, Valentina, Tell us about you
and your interest in the environment.Well, I' m a communication student.
My interest in the environment arises becauseI grew up in a small town
(22:25):
in Boyacá, in St Paul ofWartburg. So, like, from a
very young age. I was alwaysinculcated in that responsibility to care for our
mother earth since Chica, so yes, since very little And today, what
do you do, for example,to protect the environment. Today, with
my mom we are always very awareof the issue of recycling. I feel
(22:45):
it is an issue that really needsto be addressed from the homes and know
how to divide the waste that weconsume daily. Well, we' re
with another company, also from theColombian University. Good, my name is
Maisal Gallego and it is important thatcitizens, we, as citizens, be
(23:08):
aware of the whole environmental issue,also with the law that came out recently,
the one- use plastic reduction law. I think it' s a
law that' s too good andfar- reaching. And nothing that is
being supported by the environment from thispart of the law is excellent. Hello
(23:32):
very pleased Pepe and my name isske Montes also from the University of Colombia.
He also participated in some days ofrecycling, precisely in the rivers that
also went to my village that Icome from barbosa, to Santander, where
precisely we have done days of recyclingof cleaning the river, where, therefore,
we have seen some difficulties when itcomes to, as I say,
a good use of water, agood feeding of the animals, precisely of
(23:56):
weights to cover them and others thatthere is in that area, where the
health and well- being in general, that should have that zone hears,
are very involved. If you don' t radio, it' s not
for lack of you. Not yesvery good these boys from the University of
Colombia, always welcome, Yes forAcá, welcome and if at any time
you think to do some kind ofenvironmental project initiative in your neighborhood, home
(24:18):
University, for Acá, open doorsto come to tell the listeners of RCN
Radio and the eco podcast that itis about. Thank you for visiting the
GT Podcast on RCN Radio Hey.Today we have a guest of the integrated
information system that we remember this underthe direction of rich hope keys in the
(24:42):
elaboration of this echo podcast by RCNRadio and with whom, as always,
we are very grateful. It isDavid' s corner the way to degrade
plastics, a fundamental theme for theenvironment. David welcome to Radio' s
Eco Podcast and tell us hello,Pepe Hi Arlens and thank you for having
(25:04):
me on the Eco Podcast And,of course, today we' re going
to talk about environment and technology.Our guest is diego Javier Jiménez. He
' s a researcher in Saudi Arabia, but he' s Colombian. Boyacá,
industrial microbiologist at Javeriana University. He' s going to tell us about
(25:26):
the degradation of plastics for the productionof value- added compounds. He was
a professor at the University of theAndes for five years and a year ago
he lived there in Saudi Arabia workingon this topic. He holds a doctorate
in microbial ecology from the University ofGroningen in the Netherlands. He has found
(25:47):
advances in plastic degradation with microbiomes inmangroves in Cartagena. Here, in our
country, microbiomes obtained in that territoryand in fact, I have found new
species of bacteria. An international researchwork with Colombian, American, German and
Arab scientists. Diego, we appreciateyour presence and thank you for joining us
at the Eco Podcast. Well,there is a lot of pleasure, yes,
(26:12):
very happy to be able to talkabout these topics that are often not
heard so thoroughly and that are notso important to many people. But we
have a big problem with the contaminationof plastics today. Diego, what did
you realize? Everyone already knows thatplastic is found in the seas. There
are microplastics. We consume microplastics everywhereyou find these elements and you of what
(26:38):
you could realize in your research asa way of being able to fix and
help treat plastic in the world.Well, plastics are found in our ecosystems
about seventy years ago. Basically myresearch, what I' m trying to
do is understand a little bit aboutmicroplastic hypote in ecosystems like mangroves. We
(27:00):
have worked with Colombian mangroves and arenow working with mangroves here in the Red
Sea, and we also seek todesign microbial communities of many species of microorganisms
that can transform plastics, record plasticsand produce so two or biomass these microbial
communities can be found in natural ecosystems. And what we do in our ambition
(27:22):
and research try to make an artificialselection of those species of microorganisms, of
bacteria that can act in plastics,that can transform them to degrade them and
to produce some added value compounds,such as bioplastics. But research, let
' s say, is based morethan all on understanding that microclassical IpO,
(27:45):
how it affects ecosystems, especially microbiomes, and how these microbiomes can be redesigned
to generate microbial communities that can beuseful in biotechnology or in the biological recycling
of plastics. How you get tosay or you in the research group,
I intend to realize that this canbe a suitable way for this treatment.
(28:07):
Well, basically good. I'm a microbial ecologist. I am a
PhD world in microbial ecology at theUniversity of Groningen, in the Netherlands.
I worked a lot on degradation ofagricultural waste for processing and biofuel production,
and about five years ago I realizedthat this topic of pláticos was a fairly
important topic and that many biotechnological productscan be extracted from it. In addition
(28:32):
to understanding in a little more depthwhat these consequences of microplastics are in ecosystems.
So basically what we have today isthat we don' t really know
how to degrade two plastics of fossilorigin like polyethylene, polyethyl interstalate, PRC
polypropylene. We really do not knowvery well what biological mechanisms micro- organisms
(29:00):
use in nature to degrade these plastics. Many of these plastics are degradable boyfriends,
that is, they do not existat the moment biological technologies for the
degradation of those classics, by thosethat can accumulate in the environment and last
thousands of years. Then there isa new opportunity today, and it is
(29:21):
to use the biological resource of micro- organisms to design, engineer those communities
and be able to create micro-gene communities that are very efficient in the
degradation of plastics. One thing wedo in our research is to make protocols
of directed evolution. What we dois basically subject microbial communities to a selection
pressure with plastics so that these communitiesare rearranged and can transform plastics much more
(29:47):
efficiently. Then there is a greatfield of action at this point and there
is also much to discover. Thereare many enzymes in nature the company that
we do not know and that canbe very important for the transformation of these
plastics, not only to make bioremediation, but to use this resource in companies
(30:08):
or in industries where we can takeplastic as raw material and produce some added
value some compound, we can dosomething that is known as recycling or the
opside click of plastics. Then Irealized that and based on and my experience
in the degradation of agricultural land,because I decided to get into the subject
of plastics. And well, I' ve learned a lot and I'
(30:30):
ve met a lot of people whowork from the point of view of ecology,
from the point of view of entimology, from the study of enzymes,
molecules, polymers. So it isa multidisciplinary research that is done in this
field, which is the hardest thingto be able to degrade the plastic.
The hardest thing is that plastic.Many of the plastics of fossil origin have
(30:53):
connections that are called carbon carbon bonds, which are very difficult to video,
to record or which are not knownenzymes that can make this biodegradation. There
are processes of chemical and physical degradation, but they are processes that are not
generally occurring in nature, with hightemperatures, with radiation. The hardest thing
(31:15):
about plastic degradation is that many ofthem have these carbon bondings that are hard
to record. What is being soughtis to find microorganisms that can degrade that.
But so far as I tell you, only some plastics are biodegradable,
some that are bioplastics that can bebiodegradable in some easy way, but most
(31:37):
plastics of fosis origin are degradable boyfriends, that is, there is no biological
degradation mechanism that can break these chemicalbonds within polymers that are plastics. What
do we say to your observation orwhat does it propose in relation to this
topic of these plastics of type,ok, plastics of fossil origin, which
(32:00):
are the vast majority, most ofwhat I say to you, are not
biodegradable, with the exception of acouple of them. What is being proposed,
what we are trying to do rightnow is to find the right enzymes
to be able to do it.These enzymes can be hidden in nature,
in microorganisms, in microbiomes. So, what is being sought is to explore
all microbiomes, such as oceans,marine sediments, mangroves, where a lot
(32:24):
of plastic accumulates, landfills, composting. So, there' s a great
biological resource there, and there's probably some tops that if we can
detect them, produce them in agood amount of characterizing them, we can
biodegrade these polymers, these polymers thatare difficult to record, so we'
(32:45):
re still looking for these organisms.We are looking for these enzymes and today,
because new microorganisms and new enzymes arealready known that can act in many
plastics of fossil origin, for examplePET. In fact, we, in
our research, have found a vaccine, a community of microorganisms that can degrade
PET, we find the enzymes characterizingthem and, in fact, we find
(33:07):
a new microbial species, a newspecies of bacteria in cartagena mangroves, which
can degrade plastic, which has thepotential to degrade plastic, such as pet
as interstalate politics. Then there's the resource. Microorganisms, microbiomes,
are places where these biological responses canbe found in order to degrade these plastics
(33:30):
in a better way. So microbiology, psychology, microbiomes engineering. I think
it is the field of action orwhere it can be exploited in order to
really find better ways, to transformplastics and not have big problems as we
have them today. Diego what happenswhen you degrade plastics, that is,
(33:52):
you think it' s destroyed,it' s done, let' s
say it shrinks more to the levelof the matter of that plastic. Yeah,
unfortunately, they' re concepts thatpeople don' t have clarity.
The process of plastics. Plastics canbe, that is, if you colog
a plastic and place it on thefloor, it can disappear into your eyes.
(34:15):
But what happens is that you canform microplastics that you can' t
see. But the plastic' sstill there. That is a process of
erosion, that is, plastic rupture, microplastic formation, and this generates many
more problems in ecosystems. Biodegradation isbasically polymerization, the rupture of the classic,
but the metabolism of that plastic bymicroorganisms to produce seo two such processes
(34:40):
is called mineralization. When we talkabout mineralization, we talk about plastic being
biodegradable. There are many plastics thatare placed in composting or soil and basically
disappear. But that doesn' tmean they' re biodegradable. It means
that they broke, that they brokeand that they only formed you microplastic,
(35:01):
but that the polymer is not stillthere, that is, in nature,
but it is no longer perfect andis not in sight of us. So
many, for example, plastics thatare said to be oxobiodegradable. What happens
is that they do not degrade,do not mineralize, but fragment and go
to where the oceans, like microplastics, to the soils, to the sediments
(35:21):
and as you already named our ownorganism to the human being. Yeah,
that' s the most worrying thing. Not that there are future generations of
human beings. And we already havepractically plastic in biology, so to speak
modified plastic. Yes, and alreadythere have been some studies where microplastics have
(35:45):
been found in blood in some organsand well, so far we are understanding
a little. What are those consequencesfor our organism and what are those consequences
also for the microbiome that we have, that we are a microbiome in our
intestine that is very important in thatour health. So, we' re
still getting a little bit of what' s going on with this microplastic.
(36:07):
There are still many questions why solveand well, in that type of questions
that we are working on today,I say Javier Jiménez and thank you for
your time, thank you for detailingabout your research, where you are aiming
and the importance also of mangroves andthe entire ecosystem, which can also be,
(36:30):
for example, in Cartagena. Thesemangroves can be the input to find
the way, to give a better, better end to all the plastics we
have, because I say some doubtwhatever we need to clarify about the plastic
issue. We' ll be consultinghim. Thank you very much for this
(36:50):
conversation and we hope you will havethe microphones of RCN Radio again. Okay.
Many thanks to You, David Andit is good that you can make
these kinds of smells that are importantto the country and that obviously, the
investigations that you are doing are madeknown. Not only me, but many,
many Colombian scientists. So, thankyou so much for the opportunity and
well, anything, I' llbe very attentive. Thank you very much
(37:14):
for the GT Podcast on RCN Radio. Okay, slow down. Today speaking
of the Academy on the planet,we have a rather apocalyptic headline, Hurricanes,
droughts and extreme heats to its tarana, San Andrés, Providencia and Santa
Catalina. And to talk about thatpepe topic, I have the best of
(37:36):
the guests, someone who knows veryclosely about this research. This is Benjamin
Quesada, climatologist and professor of theEarth System science program of the University of
Rosario. Welcome professor to the ECOPodcast of RCN Radio and thank you for
accepting this call. There is areason, let' s say punctually,
(38:00):
why we were calling him and itis for a study that is carried out
from the University of Rosario, astudy that talks about the future situation of
San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, as we said, in the face
of hurricanes droughts and extreme heat.How we can start with this subject that
truth leaves us concerned. Greet everyoneAnd yes, indeed, we focused on
(38:23):
this study since the year two thousandand twenty, when we saw that hurricane
yota. If you remember in Novemberof two thousand twenty to reason, the
island of San Andrés and particularly theisland of Providencia, we find sorry that
there was no very advanced water orclimatological study about what was happening in San
(38:50):
Andrés and about everything that was goingto happen in the future. So,
that' s why we focus onthe extreme climate, which is what most
affects society, because obviously, becausean increase in average temperature or average rainfall
can affect, but what affects peopleabove all are these extreme heats, are
these droughts or these extremes of rains. Professor, let' s talk a
(39:16):
little bit about this study. Youmentioned to us how it arises, but
let' s talk in the futurehow close this problem is to St Andrew,
Providence and St Catherine. Well,the novelty of this study is that
we combine both observational data. SanAndrés has seven weather stations. Then we
(39:43):
took a historic tour. We couldsay about the last decades and also using
models, we were able to modelthe climate in the future. What we
see is that we are already pitifullyin this climate change, with a threefold
increase in the number of heat wavessince the 1960s. We see that also
(40:04):
the hurricanes of the highest category categoryfour and five, like Hurricane Beril that
we saw a few days ago,because they have doubled to the proximity of
San Andrés in the last fifty yearsand in the future this will be worse,
let' s say if we aremitigating climate change. If I don
(40:28):
' t say climate change, thehottest days are going to double from here
to two thousand and fifty. SanAndrés will become drier too then the droughts
will intensify both in frequency and duration. So, that' s pitifully the
picture we' re looking at.But it all depends on if I say,
(40:52):
we mitigate climate change by reducing thesegreenhouse gases. Be and there is
a particular reason, or certain factorsthat lead to the archipelago of San Andrés,
Providencia and Santa Catalina being threatened byall these phenomena. Of course it
(41:16):
is that San Andrés, Providencia andSanta Catalina is the most northerly territory that
Colombia has and that puts it preciselyon the favorite trajectory of hurricanes. Hurricanes
form like tropical storms from more orless the Cape Verde islands in West Africa
(41:36):
and then travel the Atlantic to moreor less get around Jamaica, in Cuba
Floria and that as we saw itwith Holacán Béril. Then these hurricanes are
going to impact much more on aterritory in Colombia, in particular, which
(41:58):
is the archipelago of San n Tres. Besides, it' s pretty far
from other coasts. That makes itpossible to stagnate the air and have more
droughts, more heat. Then itis a particularly vulnerable department, in addition
to its low adaptive capacity. Unfortunately, Professor, the interesting thing about having
(42:22):
contact with the Academy for these typesof topics is because we can ask them
without any kind of political distinction ordye, how they see the management of
the State in the face of thissituation. You mentioned Ayota, who showed
that St Andrew, Providence and StCatherine were not at all prepared for these
kinds of events and, from whatyou see, we seem to continue like
(42:43):
this. It has not finished repairingthe damage as an idiot, nor does
it feel that the island is preparedfor such a new natural phenomenon. You,
from the Academy, see the statemanagement. If you are absolutely right,
I think this question is crucial.We have seen pitifully that since the
(43:04):
year two thousand and twenty we haveall seen that reparation in the islands of
Providence, because they have pitifully compromisedcorruption, has made it very expensive,
very delayed. And that even inpost- Hurricane care, because we saw
that we had not said the necessaryattention for this type of territory. I
(43:30):
believe that we have learned since theyear two thousand and twenty, the State
has put more and more resources.We hope that they will concentrate on measures
that are effective. I give someexamples, for example, that it is
also combined with nature- based solutions, that mangroves are not allowed to be
(43:50):
cut down, but that mangroves arereforested, because that prevents coastal flooding.
Then it is a very profitable investment, not only in biodiversity, in ecology,
but also in economics. Yes,because it' s reducing damage to
people, reducing damage to infrastructure.What we are also seeing is that floods
(44:12):
can be created not only by rain, but by the state of the soil.
And in San Andrés what we seeis that the waste is not handled
very properly. So, it's up to us to find a solution
for the waste. Why, becausethese receipts crawl, they cover the alcantarias
and that makes the growths and floodsstronger. Now prophet, if a country
(44:39):
has an area that hurricanes find favoritein their trajectory, what should be done
on time, what actions should betaken to mitigate impacts or to deal with
these cases. Well, then here, as I said, in mangroves or
the afforestation network can be a verygood topic, where you can even get
(45:05):
international cooperation funds. So, that' s a first point. Then,
there are other territories in the Caribbeanthat are very prone to hurricane force,
coma for example, have an emergencyevacuation program that makes it have very few
human losses. When a Dominican Republichurricane passes. Then too we could learn
(45:32):
from these territories. We would haveto have an academic, technical strength that
can go to say these territories,learn and bring or bring these solutions.
Not because what we absolutely want isto limit damage to people. That'
(45:52):
s priory. Number one, don' t let people die for that And
second, because the mitigation of thedamage to infrastructure, which has cost the
island of Providencia pitifully, has notbeen able to recover until today. Then
they are a whole set of solutionswhere there may be much earlier warning than
(46:17):
there has been in the past.Remember that in Iota two thousand twenty there
was a blackouts, there was evenbad communication between the continent and the island
for many hours. That, then, we have to fix it, because
that weakens us in adaptation and costsus a lot of teacher. Let'
(46:38):
s say this at the macro level, speaking suddenly from the same islander homes,
what can be done? We aretalking about a situation that is coming,
whether or not the Government takes thedecision to act, regardless of whether
it is able to learn from Cubaand other islands in the region. What
can then be done from island homes, to prevent the harm from being less,
(47:00):
to avoid suffering as much as theysuffered from the case of them.
Some recommendations that you can help usmake clear. That is also a very
complementary point. It is important toinvolve the Community so that it knows the
risks and knows how to act togetherin the neighbourhoods, that there may be
(47:21):
a reference, that is, makingother islands, brigadists who help to immediately
review all the roofs, for example, because it can happen accidents with strong
winds, a roof goes away anda person can die to receive this metal.
(47:43):
Then waste is a very, very, very strong subject. Then don
' t throw trash when a hurricaneis going to happen. That is always
recommended pitifully, it is not followedby effects and people leave the receipts.
It' s up there not togo out on the street or near trees
(48:07):
that can fall, because that's dangerous. So there is a lot
of awareness and there has to bethe local government working with the community so
that in every neighborhood we can dosimulcruz, for example, what we do
even in schools. That' svery important. Early education, because it
(48:27):
has a multiplier effect. If onehas explained to a child, then the
child will explain to the parents,etcetera. So it' s much more
effective this way. Professor, very, very useful your participation in this chapter
of the echo podcast of RCN Radioto help us understand how San Andrés,
Providencia and Santa Catalina are facing thepossibility of these natural phenomena, and I
(48:53):
would like, before firing him,to ask you how can listeners know a
little more about the research of theUniversity of Rosario, where they can find
information about it. Of course Ido. Well, this article was reviewed
in several media outlets and then youcan Google search for drought hurricanes and extreme
(49:16):
heat in San Andrés. This hasbeen published in the international magazine Clymets dinemixes
Climate dynamics and can follow the socialnetworks of the University of Rosario, on
Twitter, on Facebook or Instagram,where we have advertised this important work in
the framework, in addition to avery strong hurricane season in two thousand twenty
(49:38):
- four. Benjamin Quesada climatologo andprofessors of the Earth System Sciences program of
the University of Rosario, thank youfor accepting this call of lico podcast by
RCN Radio. For joining us onthis broadcast today. Well, thanks a
lot to you and this we formedby finishing our broadcast today. We want
to thank you, as always,Lenz and Gutierrez, for accompanying us in
(49:59):
the cabin to you for being therefor this new mission of the eco podcast.
And I remember them. If youwant to know a little more about
this episode or any of our previousepisodes, you can find us through the
different audio platforms in demand. Wehear Chao Chao Ego podcast on RCN Radio
The co- podcast, because theenvironment is one of everyone' s subjects.
Hello, how am I doing?Greetings. He speaks to Pepe Morón
and, together with Herlencio and Gutiérrez, we welcome you to this new chapter
of RCN Radio' s eco podcasttoday with a lot of information, initially
(00:27):
following up on a topic that wehave been looking forward to for several weeks
now, a subject that the Mohanainhabitants have been suffering for several years.
And that' s what happens withcharge, because the ball goes from one
side to the other and there's no solution, at least not.
For now we will also be talkingabout the island of San Andrés, Providencia
and Santa Catalina. All this becauseyou remember that we are in the middle
(00:49):
of hurricane season and the situation thereappears increasingly complicated. So, you know,
make yourself a coffee, find yourselfa little corner, comfortable, and
get ready for this environmental journey aroundthe world. Welcome to the theme of
the good day. Today we followup on a situation that we have come
to know and show our listeners whatis happening in the Mohana with the Cauca
(01:14):
River and the gap. Yes,ladies and gentlemen, the dam of the
same one that, due to negligenceand corruption, has not been able to
close the same one that, yearafter year, turns that region of the
country into a real chaos that,under the flood, leaves families homeless,
(01:34):
crops razed, dead and displaced animalsand, worst, an incalculable environmental damage.
How will you give me lencia welcome, as always Hello pepe how nice
to greet you and all the listenersand if you keep moving information about the
floods in the mohana, the rainyseason is still active and the calamity is
getting bigger. Meanwhile, communities areawaiting a real solution from the national Government.
(02:01):
Exactly the lency, because, farfrom a nearby solution, the National
Unit for Risk Management throws the ballwith the contractor in charge of the work
that seeks to close this dam.On the one hand, we have the
National Unit for Risk Management, whichmet urgently with governors, mayors and delegations
from the departments affected by the floodsin the mojana. But it turns out
(02:28):
that during that good meeting it wasdiscussed that it is not possible to close
this cat car bottle, at leastit is not possible this year, as
was provided for in the contract signedby the previous administration. After that which
you comment the lenzi, the lordsof the consortium, the known consortium remember
as r CG, who is incharge of the work, goes out to
(02:52):
say that they did not say that, that if you can not close the
gap, it is for lack inthe payment of the resources that is required
and, as I say, theyare throwing the ball because they did not
finish saying that the lords of theConsortium of RCG, when the unit of
risk management came out to answer withdocument in hand and demonstrating that the reason
(03:15):
of the non- compliance is notthe lack of silver, as they say,
but the growth of the river CaucaPepe and remember all the stories that
we knew in our special chapter aboutthe mojana, the people looking for highlands
to be able to carry their cattle, the inhabitants who told us, how
(03:38):
their houses are covered by water andhow this happens year after years, because
it is a recurring thing. Everythingwe had also we lost it all and
again to start again I have tobe putting practical up, because we are
not giving. That' s agame, and so I have to be
here practically a year later the growingone that got them in and we'
(03:58):
re practically still under the water.Today, our growers, our farmers,
have not been able to plant akill in more than a year. In
other countries, the riverside villages arerich. We have something that' s
the other way around. We,the villages that are riverside are poor.
They' re the poorest. Tezucropesete, sucre as in an abandoned village
that has no two winds. Allthe help that comes you steal it and
(04:20):
those drowned us. They drowned.Then he drowned, even suffocated meals ideas
because we don' t have wood. Then we live on these three tablets
and that' s why it pileseverything up here so we' re not
mons. People are really desperate andthey are at such a point that they
say that you have to declare someonenot pleasant in the region. To the
(04:42):
director of the National Risk Management Unit, Carlos Carrillo, after saying that cat
cart will not be closed this year, I propose as we always go to
the regions punctually to the women's sector if pepe Nuestra compañera en Sincelejo,
Saidan Freilen, has been following themto the whole situation, which leaves
millions of economic losses, hundreds ofpeople affected in at least four departments of
(05:06):
the country and an environmental alert,since this reality is leaving irreparable damage to
the environment of the north of thecountry, as we are gradually ending.
Thus, the inhabitants of the regionof La Mojala, in the department of
their creation what they have had tolive for the last four years, since
(05:28):
the breakup of the Cauca River inthe sector known as the carigato, which
has kept them since then among theNicaraguan water, a courteous thorn dweller of
the sierpe is an odyssey, becausewe are practically not used to this.
This is a prosperous and rich regionof the Mohana, better in Colombia,
because here you live from agriculture,livestock and many more crops with resignation.
(05:56):
Those affected rise day by day knowingthat in this region or clearly agricultural,
the inhabitants of the affected municipalities havenothing to do other than to watch the
yellowish days go to disaster. Wewant that burden to cover us up,
because we' re the winged chava. We have to grow, we want
(06:17):
to sow, we want all theanimals, because we are going to lose
animals here and we have been ableto work and I don' t think
we see a boy and to fighther crowded in Cambuches who invade the road
or simply building wooden structures in theheights inside their homes. That' s
how the wetters live. Apart fromspending the wet days, they must deal
(06:41):
with the invasion of animals that dragsthe river Otman countryside Bedor. They are
also having a big problem, andit is the fact that after six o
' clock in the afternoon, theycan no longer leave because these totally dark
ones that there is no public lightingand what you see most, you don
' t see fish. Here,what you see is snake and villa and
at seven o' clock at night, a person lying here, in this
(07:02):
fagua may have the problem of familyor aggression of one of coughing animentos,
as if it were little. Forthese families, their long list of problems
must add the differences between the RSGconsortium, which carries out the commissioned closure
works and the National Unit for RiskManagement, which refuses to hand over the
(07:23):
resources for the works to be completed. Nelson Martinez, director of the Encaregato
intervention. The work has a dateof 27 November and by that date the
work must be finished, except forsome other sections of type like climatic conditions
(07:43):
or something, but the work willcontinue to work and we are working in
team with the contractor, looking forsolutions that allow us to continue to advance
in that truth. Although the governmenthas only delivered twenty- five million pesos,
the works are progressing by fifty-five percent and the gap is only
45 meters to close Germán, serrano, technical manager. The truth is,
(08:09):
as you' ve seen it,we' re still working, we'
re still expanding, we' restill doing stuffing. We' re going
fifty- five percent, that is, there' s forty- five percent
left to execute. The date isNovember 27th. We' re still working.
The intention is not to stop,but obviously we need flow, cash
(08:33):
flow. The members of the SocialPact for the Mojana prepare a complaint by
omission against the director of the UNGherede, Carlos Carrillo. For us,
the burden of closure is indispensable inorder to begin an economic revival and to
start again from scratch that this nationalgovernment has left us because of its failure
(08:58):
to implement suddenly until the judgments thatare not they have begun through the Office
of the Ombudsman, where the Courtof Condinamarca urges the national government to solve
at once the problem of the Mohana. So we, for that reason,
have also started a series of activities, such as denouncing the new director,
(09:20):
Carlos Carrillos, who does not wantto do anything for us as Mohana,
but that opens the gap. Inthe current situation, the wetters have nothing
to do. There' s verylittle to eat. Farmers are desperate for
debts to banks and waiting only fora miracle to Sara EnriqueÁlvarez Neris.
(09:43):
Right now I am in various tradesbecause to the truth we do not have
the circumstances, because of the floodissues, because in reality, when they
caught carregato, we were confident thathe was welcomed. We invest money,
even if we stop home. Theplots were lost, the crops were lost
because they were confident that soon cargowas received. Obviously, and let'
(10:07):
s see what a drag at thetime of truth is not taken. It
' s about 40 meters wide.Where he is. And you' re
not going to say that cat carcan' t be covered. Car cat,
yes, you can cover it up, but you have to look for
other means of work to accommodate loads, not with these sandbags, because that
' s not what' s goingto catch carigato. In addition, the
national Government' s community pot programmeruined the neighbourhood shops that provided food for
(10:31):
the operation of the second phase ofthe programme, without anyone being held accountable
so far for the resources. NelsonÁlvarez, a member of the Mojana commune
board. In the case of thedepartment of Sucre, with several municipalities where
the operator had more than sixty pots, even the unit of those is owed
(10:54):
that silver to the facilitator. Butthe facilitator got in the trade people he
has in the village shops and inthe sidewalk shops. In May I and
other companions of my sidewalk supplied twenty- five days of Hoya and the shops
were broken, because in the silverthe feeling of the mojana with the second
(11:16):
pots has not arrived after the pilotagethat they gave to the facilitators, either
of sadness, it is desolation andit is almost felt betrayed in what the
President says in several meetings and hassaid at the moment, in the great
Mojana region reigns the sadness, thepoverty abounds and in the midst of the
(11:37):
waters of the Cauca opens way thedesire to get ahead of a thriving and
resilient community. Well, we wantedto know much more than the inhabitants of
the region say and, above all, that point of declaring persona no grata
to the director of the National RiskManagement Unit, Carlos Cartillo. We are
going to another point in the geographyof northern Colombia to know what its inhabitants
(12:01):
say in the face of this situation. Gustavo Cortés, president of a communal
action board of the municipality of AyapelVerde del Cuchillo, is very concerned with
all this situation that comes to usand chimes saying that the flirting charge cannot
be closed. Imagine the Colombian engineeringpractically serves us is what I understand,
(12:22):
because how other countries live in Hollandand he speaks of a theft of three
hundred seventy- seven billion pesos thathave been lost, of a robot not
of a silver that has not servedfor the forest cargo. We, as
a community, demand that the nationalGovernment simply fulfil its obligations as a Government,
(12:43):
as a State, with a communitythat requires it at this time to
close heavy critical points and cancel thedebts of Banco Agrario. The delays he
' s trying to close with thecontractors. We, as a community,
are simply affected, agree, seewhat they are going to do. The
(13:03):
Minister of Agriculture, in her visitand Apel, said that it should be
closed while there were studies of theActuation Fund, which for us are a
study more than much of what isin the Mohana. We all know that
cat carra must be closed and criticalpoints made are the most urgent at the
moment the internal delays and fights betweengovernment and entities or contractors. In this
(13:26):
case, we are careless and Ihope they comply with the obligation, just
as the judgment of the Court ofCodinamarca in the lawsuit filed by the Ombudsman
' s Office for the closure ofthe carregato. Then we ask the national
government to take an interest in itsmojana community. Carrillo, in an intervention
(13:46):
in a political control, mentions wherehe has invested three hundred and seventy-
seven billion pesos in caragatos to somebags of sand. The first thing I
would like to ask is whether thatinvested money was actually invested in caragato or
mohana and that it was invested,because if we are going to make control
(14:09):
of what is invested, we haveto know cost profit, what the communities
have today, because we all knowthe business around public procurement, especially in
this misery that we have in Mohana. Second, how much that investment Carrillo
says took into account the studies Colombia, Dutch and Japanese made by the National
(14:31):
University. There' s a ladynamed Lilian Posada. That is a woman
who gave very serious studies and nogovernment has taken it into account to solve
the problem of mohana, which issedimentation, structurally. It is worrying and
it is hoped, as we listenedto its inhabitants, that this will end
(14:52):
once and for all, that thedam will close, that the Cauca River
will cease to be a problem andthat the losses will cease to be so
large. Speaking not only of economiclosses, but also of environmental losses,
which are incalculable. The g podcaston RCN Radio we want to talk about
(15:15):
a study that has a lot todo with this issue, which shows us
that the situation is not complex onlyin the Colombian territory, because, in
the context of the heavy rains,the most recent report of the year immediately
before offers a vision of the challengesfacing them. We are talking about at
least twenty- seven catastrophic events inLatin America and the Caribbean, with a
(15:37):
total of five hundred and seventy-six victims in the region, this during
the year immediately preceding. In addition, according to the same report, the
region has five point a billion dollarsin insured losses, which constitutes only four
point three percent of the world total. Let us listen to one of the
(16:03):
invited experts and refer to this situation. This is Eduardo Garruño, who tells
us about this study. According tothe natural disasters report of SSRI Institute,
in the year two thousand twenty-three it witnessed several significant natural disasters on
a global level with economic perils thatreached two hundred and eighty billion dollars,
(16:23):
of which one hundred and eight billionwere insured. If we look at the
perspective, a total of 27 catastrophicevents were realistic in Latin America and the
Caribbean. One of the highlights wasHurricane Otis, which affected Mexico and became
the most expensive event in the historyof that country. On the other hand,
it should be noted that, althoughhurricanes in the Caribbean do not usually
(16:47):
hit Colombia directly, we note thatin the year two thousand twenty, hurricanes
ETA Iota reached categories four and fiverespectively. These affected part of the Colombian
territory and destroyed up to two thousandhomes in order and causing minimum insured losses
of between five and ten million dollars. With regard to economic losses, CSSY
(17:08):
believes that losses secured by natural disasterscould double over the next 10 years if
current trends continue. In that context, it is crucial to invest in adaptation
measures, such as the modernization ofbuilding codes and the improvement of public lature,
(17:29):
in order to protect our economies communities. Global figures then, with three
hundred and thirty- two events,seventy- six, one thousand and five
hundred and sixty- nine victims andtwo hundred and ninety- seven million dollars,
reflect a world increasingly exposed to naturalhazards and Colombia is not doing very
(17:52):
well in this whole situation. Accordingto the latest Sonar report of the SSRY
Institute, we see that climate changehas become an evolutionary threat to international security.
We see that altered weather patterns haveincreased the frequency and severity of extreme
events, such as hurricanes, floodsand droughts, causing serious economic and human
(18:18):
repercussions. In fact, a watercrisis is anticipated whose demand exceeds supply by
forty percent by two thousand thirty.Latin America and the Caribbean must take proactive
measures to reduce vulnerability to natural disasters. In this context, being King believes
that collaboration between Governments, businesses andcommunities vital to creating a more resilient and
(18:45):
better prepared region. To face thechallenges of extreme weather. Many thanks to
all students to the oigamer board.Today we have a visit on the RCN
Radio podcast and it is not acommon visit. They' re students who
(19:07):
are getting to know how things workon RCN Radio. They are members of
the Faculty of Social Communication and Journalismof the University of Colombia. I love
the welcome that you are presenting andthat you tell us to see this theme
of the environment. How much youcare, if you' re interested in
(19:27):
welcome, who starts is worth pepe. Thank you for the invitation. I
' m Daniel Lozano, I'm a fourth semester social communication student.
I think that the issue of environmentalcare is an issue that we all care
about. We must all care today, as I feel that it has been
forgotten a lot in previous times andI think it is vitally important to immerse
(19:48):
ourselves in this issue, as wesee that our planet that there is most
damaged by our own actions. ThenI feel it' s a very relevant
subject. If hello, I amwillnd digit Parra, I am also part
of the Fourth Semester Group of theUnitarian of Colombia. And as for the
theme of the ambient day, Ido believe that it is something that owes
us, that circulates to us all, because, in the long term,
(20:11):
it is something that will affect ourway of life. But if something I
want to say with values that wesay always recharge this as from my environment,
about people, as from the common, if you will understand me,
then let' s always say youare the one who has to recycle you
are the one who has to beaware if very few times you are given
this control. Let' s sayto companies or things like that that are
(20:32):
the ones that generate these industrial quantities. Let' s just say pollution on
the planet. Not then, then, yes, apart from putting our support,
obviously each individual one on the careof the environment, I think that
would not be much help if neitheris a stop to these companies that are
the main ones that generate all thispollution around the planet. Fourth semester PP
(20:56):
of communication and have a good voice, at least for radio. You'
re going to hate them so muchThank you. Thank you, thank you,
and we will also greet the teacher. Ay lived in Altagona, a
friend of the house and a friendof the family. A greeting for a
Ceasenense who is also based in thecity of Bogotá, as is her case
and my case is that we havehere a greeting to the teacher Viveana,
who was the one who brought usto this study group, and it is
(21:17):
wonderful to have this kind of visitsduring the presentation of this environmental program PEPE,
so the invitation is always open toall the universities that are visiting us
day by day and we hear whatthe young people think, precisely in front
of the environmental issue that one says, these generations come already with that chip
incorporated, unlike ours. In ourtime, little and nothing was talked about
(21:41):
this environmental issue and how do theydo a different reading? One spoke of
the responsibility of each other. Iwas talking about corporate responsibility and both important
responsibilities to really deal with the climateemergency, which is not in the future
that we are already living. Andall the voices around the environment and their
presno of the are welcome. Ofcourse because he remembers the motto of the
(22:03):
Eco Podcast. The environment is atheme of all and we continue with more
guests to be taught also students ofthe faculty of social communication. Who greets
us now, Valentina, Aspetia,Bueno, Valentina, Tell us about you
and your interest in the environment.Well, I' m a communication student.
My interest in the environment arises becauseI grew up in a small town
(22:25):
in Boyacá, in St Paul ofWartburg. So, like, from a
very young age. I was alwaysinculcated in that responsibility to care for our
mother earth since Chica, so yes, since very little And today, what
do you do, for example,to protect the environment. Today, with
my mom we are always very awareof the issue of recycling. I feel
(22:45):
it is an issue that really needsto be addressed from the homes and know
how to divide the waste that weconsume daily. Well, we' re
with another company, also from theColombian University. Good, my name is
Maisal Gallego and it is important thatcitizens, we, as citizens, be
(23:08):
aware of the whole environmental issue,also with the law that came out recently,
the one- use plastic reduction law. I think it' s a
law that' s too good andfar- reaching. And nothing that is
being supported by the environment from thispart of the law is excellent. Hello
(23:32):
very pleased Pepe and my name isske Montes also from the University of Colombia.
He also participated in some days ofrecycling, precisely in the rivers that
also went to my village that Icome from barbosa, to Santander, where
precisely we have done days of recyclingof cleaning the river, where, therefore,
we have seen some difficulties when itcomes to, as I say,
a good use of water, agood feeding of the animals, precisely of
(23:56):
weights to cover them and others thatthere is in that area, where the
health and well- being in general, that should have that zone hears,
are very involved. If you don' t radio, it' s not
for lack of you. Not yesvery good these boys from the University of
Colombia, always welcome, Yes forAcá, welcome and if at any time
you think to do some kind ofenvironmental project initiative in your neighborhood, home
(24:18):
University, for Acá, open doorsto come to tell the listeners of RCN
Radio and the eco podcast that itis about. Thank you for visiting the
GT Podcast on RCN Radio Hey.Today we have a guest of the integrated
information system that we remember this underthe direction of rich hope keys in the
(24:42):
elaboration of this echo podcast by RCNRadio and with whom, as always,
we are very grateful. It isDavid' s corner the way to degrade
plastics, a fundamental theme for theenvironment. David welcome to Radio' s
Eco Podcast and tell us hello,Pepe Hi Arlens and thank you for having
(25:04):
me on the Eco Podcast And,of course, today we' re going
to talk about environment and technology.Our guest is diego Javier Jiménez. He
' s a researcher in Saudi Arabia, but he' s Colombian. Boyacá,
industrial microbiologist at Javeriana University. He' s going to tell us about
(25:26):
the degradation of plastics for the productionof value- added compounds. He was
a professor at the University of theAndes for five years and a year ago
he lived there in Saudi Arabia workingon this topic. He holds a doctorate
in microbial ecology from the University ofGroningen in the Netherlands. He has found
(25:47):
advances in plastic degradation with microbiomes inmangroves in Cartagena. Here, in our
country, microbiomes obtained in that territoryand in fact, I have found new
species of bacteria. An international researchwork with Colombian, American, German and
Arab scientists. Diego, we appreciateyour presence and thank you for joining us
at the Eco Podcast. Well,there is a lot of pleasure, yes,
(26:12):
very happy to be able to talkabout these topics that are often not
heard so thoroughly and that are notso important to many people. But we
have a big problem with the contaminationof plastics today. Diego, what did
you realize? Everyone already knows thatplastic is found in the seas. There
are microplastics. We consume microplastics everywhereyou find these elements and you of what
(26:38):
you could realize in your research asa way of being able to fix and
help treat plastic in the world.Well, plastics are found in our ecosystems
about seventy years ago. Basically myresearch, what I' m trying to
do is understand a little bit aboutmicroplastic hypote in ecosystems like mangroves. We
(27:00):
have worked with Colombian mangroves and arenow working with mangroves here in the Red
Sea, and we also seek todesign microbial communities of many species of microorganisms
that can transform plastics, record plasticsand produce so two or biomass these microbial
communities can be found in natural ecosystems. And what we do in our ambition
(27:22):
and research try to make an artificialselection of those species of microorganisms, of
bacteria that can act in plastics,that can transform them to degrade them and
to produce some added value compounds,such as bioplastics. But research, let
' s say, is based morethan all on understanding that microclassical IpO,
(27:45):
how it affects ecosystems, especially microbiomes, and how these microbiomes can be redesigned
to generate microbial communities that can beuseful in biotechnology or in the biological recycling
of plastics. How you get tosay or you in the research group,
I intend to realize that this canbe a suitable way for this treatment.
(28:07):
Well, basically good. I'm a microbial ecologist. I am a
PhD world in microbial ecology at theUniversity of Groningen, in the Netherlands.
I worked a lot on degradation ofagricultural waste for processing and biofuel production,
and about five years ago I realizedthat this topic of pláticos was a fairly
important topic and that many biotechnological productscan be extracted from it. In addition
(28:32):
to understanding in a little more depthwhat these consequences of microplastics are in ecosystems.
So basically what we have today isthat we don' t really know
how to degrade two plastics of fossilorigin like polyethylene, polyethyl interstalate, PRC
polypropylene. We really do not knowvery well what biological mechanisms micro- organisms
(29:00):
use in nature to degrade these plastics. Many of these plastics are degradable boyfriends,
that is, they do not existat the moment biological technologies for the
degradation of those classics, by thosethat can accumulate in the environment and last
thousands of years. Then there isa new opportunity today, and it is
(29:21):
to use the biological resource of micro- organisms to design, engineer those communities
and be able to create micro-gene communities that are very efficient in the
degradation of plastics. One thing wedo in our research is to make protocols
of directed evolution. What we dois basically subject microbial communities to a selection
pressure with plastics so that these communitiesare rearranged and can transform plastics much more
(29:47):
efficiently. Then there is a greatfield of action at this point and there
is also much to discover. Thereare many enzymes in nature the company that
we do not know and that canbe very important for the transformation of these
plastics, not only to make bioremediation, but to use this resource in companies
(30:08):
or in industries where we can takeplastic as raw material and produce some added
value some compound, we can dosomething that is known as recycling or the
opside click of plastics. Then Irealized that and based on and my experience
in the degradation of agricultural land,because I decided to get into the subject
of plastics. And well, I' ve learned a lot and I'
(30:30):
ve met a lot of people whowork from the point of view of ecology,
from the point of view of entimology, from the study of enzymes,
molecules, polymers. So it isa multidisciplinary research that is done in this
field, which is the hardest thingto be able to degrade the plastic.
The hardest thing is that plastic.Many of the plastics of fossil origin have
(30:53):
connections that are called carbon carbon bonds, which are very difficult to video,
to record or which are not knownenzymes that can make this biodegradation. There
are processes of chemical and physical degradation, but they are processes that are not
generally occurring in nature, with hightemperatures, with radiation. The hardest thing
(31:15):
about plastic degradation is that many ofthem have these carbon bondings that are hard
to record. What is being soughtis to find microorganisms that can degrade that.
But so far as I tell you, only some plastics are biodegradable,
some that are bioplastics that can bebiodegradable in some easy way, but most
(31:37):
plastics of fosis origin are degradable boyfriends, that is, there is no biological
degradation mechanism that can break these chemicalbonds within polymers that are plastics. What
do we say to your observation orwhat does it propose in relation to this
topic of these plastics of type,ok, plastics of fossil origin, which
(32:00):
are the vast majority, most ofwhat I say to you, are not
biodegradable, with the exception of acouple of them. What is being proposed,
what we are trying to do rightnow is to find the right enzymes
to be able to do it.These enzymes can be hidden in nature,
in microorganisms, in microbiomes. So, what is being sought is to explore
all microbiomes, such as oceans,marine sediments, mangroves, where a lot
(32:24):
of plastic accumulates, landfills, composting. So, there' s a great
biological resource there, and there's probably some tops that if we can
detect them, produce them in agood amount of characterizing them, we can
biodegrade these polymers, these polymers thatare difficult to record, so we'
(32:45):
re still looking for these organisms.We are looking for these enzymes and today,
because new microorganisms and new enzymes arealready known that can act in many
plastics of fossil origin, for examplePET. In fact, we, in
our research, have found a vaccine, a community of microorganisms that can degrade
PET, we find the enzymes characterizingthem and, in fact, we find
(33:07):
a new microbial species, a newspecies of bacteria in cartagena mangroves, which
can degrade plastic, which has thepotential to degrade plastic, such as pet
as interstalate politics. Then there's the resource. Microorganisms, microbiomes,
are places where these biological responses canbe found in order to degrade these plastics
(33:30):
in a better way. So microbiology, psychology, microbiomes engineering. I think
it is the field of action orwhere it can be exploited in order to
really find better ways, to transformplastics and not have big problems as we
have them today. Diego what happenswhen you degrade plastics, that is,
(33:52):
you think it' s destroyed,it' s done, let' s
say it shrinks more to the levelof the matter of that plastic. Yeah,
unfortunately, they' re concepts thatpeople don' t have clarity.
The process of plastics. Plastics canbe, that is, if you colog
a plastic and place it on thefloor, it can disappear into your eyes.
(34:15):
But what happens is that you canform microplastics that you can' t
see. But the plastic' sstill there. That is a process of
erosion, that is, plastic rupture, microplastic formation, and this generates many
more problems in ecosystems. Biodegradation isbasically polymerization, the rupture of the classic,
but the metabolism of that plastic bymicroorganisms to produce seo two such processes
(34:40):
is called mineralization. When we talkabout mineralization, we talk about plastic being
biodegradable. There are many plastics thatare placed in composting or soil and basically
disappear. But that doesn' tmean they' re biodegradable. It means
that they broke, that they brokeand that they only formed you microplastic,
(35:01):
but that the polymer is not stillthere, that is, in nature,
but it is no longer perfect andis not in sight of us. So
many, for example, plastics thatare said to be oxobiodegradable. What happens
is that they do not degrade,do not mineralize, but fragment and go
to where the oceans, like microplastics, to the soils, to the sediments
(35:21):
and as you already named our ownorganism to the human being. Yeah,
that' s the most worrying thing. Not that there are future generations of
human beings. And we already havepractically plastic in biology, so to speak
modified plastic. Yes, and alreadythere have been some studies where microplastics have
(35:45):
been found in blood in some organsand well, so far we are understanding
a little. What are those consequencesfor our organism and what are those consequences
also for the microbiome that we have, that we are a microbiome in our
intestine that is very important in thatour health. So, we' re
still getting a little bit of what' s going on with this microplastic.
(36:07):
There are still many questions why solveand well, in that type of questions
that we are working on today,I say Javier Jiménez and thank you for
your time, thank you for detailingabout your research, where you are aiming
and the importance also of mangroves andthe entire ecosystem, which can also be,
(36:30):
for example, in Cartagena. Thesemangroves can be the input to find
the way, to give a better, better end to all the plastics we
have, because I say some doubtwhatever we need to clarify about the plastic
issue. We' ll be consultinghim. Thank you very much for this
(36:50):
conversation and we hope you will havethe microphones of RCN Radio again. Okay.
Many thanks to You, David Andit is good that you can make
these kinds of smells that are importantto the country and that obviously, the
investigations that you are doing are madeknown. Not only me, but many,
many Colombian scientists. So, thankyou so much for the opportunity and
well, anything, I' llbe very attentive. Thank you very much
(37:14):
for the GT Podcast on RCN Radio. Okay, slow down. Today speaking
of the Academy on the planet,we have a rather apocalyptic headline, Hurricanes,
droughts and extreme heats to its tarana, San Andrés, Providencia and Santa
Catalina. And to talk about thatpepe topic, I have the best of
(37:36):
the guests, someone who knows veryclosely about this research. This is Benjamin
Quesada, climatologist and professor of theEarth System science program of the University of
Rosario. Welcome professor to the ECOPodcast of RCN Radio and thank you for
accepting this call. There is areason, let' s say punctually,
(38:00):
why we were calling him and itis for a study that is carried out
from the University of Rosario, astudy that talks about the future situation of
San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, as we said, in the face
of hurricanes droughts and extreme heat.How we can start with this subject that
truth leaves us concerned. Greet everyoneAnd yes, indeed, we focused on
(38:23):
this study since the year two thousandand twenty, when we saw that hurricane
yota. If you remember in Novemberof two thousand twenty to reason, the
island of San Andrés and particularly theisland of Providencia, we find sorry that
there was no very advanced water orclimatological study about what was happening in San
(38:50):
Andrés and about everything that was goingto happen in the future. So,
that' s why we focus onthe extreme climate, which is what most
affects society, because obviously, becausean increase in average temperature or average rainfall
can affect, but what affects peopleabove all are these extreme heats, are
these droughts or these extremes of rains. Professor, let' s talk a
(39:16):
little bit about this study. Youmentioned to us how it arises, but
let' s talk in the futurehow close this problem is to St Andrew,
Providence and St Catherine. Well,the novelty of this study is that
we combine both observational data. SanAndrés has seven weather stations. Then we
(39:43):
took a historic tour. We couldsay about the last decades and also using
models, we were able to modelthe climate in the future. What we
see is that we are already pitifullyin this climate change, with a threefold
increase in the number of heat wavessince the 1960s. We see that also
(40:04):
the hurricanes of the highest category categoryfour and five, like Hurricane Beril that
we saw a few days ago,because they have doubled to the proximity of
San Andrés in the last fifty yearsand in the future this will be worse,
let' s say if we aremitigating climate change. If I don
(40:28):
' t say climate change, thehottest days are going to double from here
to two thousand and fifty. SanAndrés will become drier too then the droughts
will intensify both in frequency and duration. So, that' s pitifully the
picture we' re looking at.But it all depends on if I say,
(40:52):
we mitigate climate change by reducing thesegreenhouse gases. Be and there is
a particular reason, or certain factorsthat lead to the archipelago of San Andrés,
Providencia and Santa Catalina being threatened byall these phenomena. Of course it
(41:16):
is that San Andrés, Providencia andSanta Catalina is the most northerly territory that
Colombia has and that puts it preciselyon the favorite trajectory of hurricanes. Hurricanes
form like tropical storms from more orless the Cape Verde islands in West Africa
(41:36):
and then travel the Atlantic to moreor less get around Jamaica, in Cuba
Floria and that as we saw itwith Holacán Béril. Then these hurricanes are
going to impact much more on aterritory in Colombia, in particular, which
(41:58):
is the archipelago of San n Tres. Besides, it' s pretty far
from other coasts. That makes itpossible to stagnate the air and have more
droughts, more heat. Then itis a particularly vulnerable department, in addition
to its low adaptive capacity. Unfortunately, Professor, the interesting thing about having
(42:22):
contact with the Academy for these typesof topics is because we can ask them
without any kind of political distinction ordye, how they see the management of
the State in the face of thissituation. You mentioned Ayota, who showed
that St Andrew, Providence and StCatherine were not at all prepared for these
kinds of events and, from whatyou see, we seem to continue like
(42:43):
this. It has not finished repairingthe damage as an idiot, nor does
it feel that the island is preparedfor such a new natural phenomenon. You,
from the Academy, see the statemanagement. If you are absolutely right,
I think this question is crucial.We have seen pitifully that since the
(43:04):
year two thousand and twenty we haveall seen that reparation in the islands of
Providence, because they have pitifully compromisedcorruption, has made it very expensive,
very delayed. And that even inpost- Hurricane care, because we saw
that we had not said the necessaryattention for this type of territory. I
(43:30):
believe that we have learned since theyear two thousand and twenty, the State
has put more and more resources.We hope that they will concentrate on measures
that are effective. I give someexamples, for example, that it is
also combined with nature- based solutions, that mangroves are not allowed to be
(43:50):
cut down, but that mangroves arereforested, because that prevents coastal flooding.
Then it is a very profitable investment, not only in biodiversity, in ecology,
but also in economics. Yes,because it' s reducing damage to
people, reducing damage to infrastructure.What we are also seeing is that floods
(44:12):
can be created not only by rain, but by the state of the soil.
And in San Andrés what we seeis that the waste is not handled
very properly. So, it's up to us to find a solution
for the waste. Why, becausethese receipts crawl, they cover the alcantarias
and that makes the growths and floodsstronger. Now prophet, if a country
(44:39):
has an area that hurricanes find favoritein their trajectory, what should be done
on time, what actions should betaken to mitigate impacts or to deal with
these cases. Well, then here, as I said, in mangroves or
the afforestation network can be a verygood topic, where you can even get
(45:05):
international cooperation funds. So, that' s a first point. Then,
there are other territories in the Caribbeanthat are very prone to hurricane force,
coma for example, have an emergencyevacuation program that makes it have very few
human losses. When a Dominican Republichurricane passes. Then too we could learn
(45:32):
from these territories. We would haveto have an academic, technical strength that
can go to say these territories,learn and bring or bring these solutions.
Not because what we absolutely want isto limit damage to people. That'
(45:52):
s priory. Number one, don' t let people die for that And
second, because the mitigation of thedamage to infrastructure, which has cost the
island of Providencia pitifully, has notbeen able to recover until today. Then
they are a whole set of solutionswhere there may be much earlier warning than
(46:17):
there has been in the past.Remember that in Iota two thousand twenty there
was a blackouts, there was evenbad communication between the continent and the island
for many hours. That, then, we have to fix it, because
that weakens us in adaptation and costsus a lot of teacher. Let'
(46:38):
s say this at the macro level, speaking suddenly from the same islander homes,
what can be done? We aretalking about a situation that is coming,
whether or not the Government takes thedecision to act, regardless of whether
it is able to learn from Cubaand other islands in the region. What
can then be done from island homes, to prevent the harm from being less,
(47:00):
to avoid suffering as much as theysuffered from the case of them.
Some recommendations that you can help usmake clear. That is also a very
complementary point. It is important toinvolve the Community so that it knows the
risks and knows how to act togetherin the neighbourhoods, that there may be
(47:21):
a reference, that is, makingother islands, brigadists who help to immediately
review all the roofs, for example, because it can happen accidents with strong
winds, a roof goes away anda person can die to receive this metal.
(47:43):
Then waste is a very, very, very strong subject. Then don
' t throw trash when a hurricaneis going to happen. That is always
recommended pitifully, it is not followedby effects and people leave the receipts.
It' s up there not togo out on the street or near trees
(48:07):
that can fall, because that's dangerous. So there is a lot
of awareness and there has to bethe local government working with the community so
that in every neighborhood we can dosimulcruz, for example, what we do
even in schools. That' svery important. Early education, because it
(48:27):
has a multiplier effect. If onehas explained to a child, then the
child will explain to the parents,etcetera. So it' s much more
effective this way. Professor, very, very useful your participation in this chapter
of the echo podcast of RCN Radioto help us understand how San Andrés,
Providencia and Santa Catalina are facing thepossibility of these natural phenomena, and I
(48:53):
would like, before firing him,to ask you how can listeners know a
little more about the research of theUniversity of Rosario, where they can find
information about it. Of course Ido. Well, this article was reviewed
in several media outlets and then youcan Google search for drought hurricanes and extreme
(49:16):
heat in San Andrés. This hasbeen published in the international magazine Clymets dinemixes
Climate dynamics and can follow the socialnetworks of the University of Rosario, on
Twitter, on Facebook or Instagram,where we have advertised this important work in
the framework, in addition to avery strong hurricane season in two thousand twenty
(49:38):
- four. Benjamin Quesada climatologo andprofessors of the Earth System Sciences program of
the University of Rosario, thank youfor accepting this call of lico podcast by
RCN Radio. For joining us onthis broadcast today. Well, thanks a
lot to you and this we formedby finishing our broadcast today. We want
to thank you, as always,Lenz and Gutierrez, for accompanying us in
(49:59):
the cabin to you for being therefor this new mission of the eco podcast.
And I remember them. If youwant to know a little more about
this episode or any of our previousepisodes, you can find us through the
different audio platforms in demand. Wehear Chao Chao Ego podcast on RCN Radio
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