**3.3 Biodiversity and selected information on environmental problems in Colombia**

According to Sánchez [37, 38], Colombia's biodiversity represents "10% of the world's flora and fauna, 20% of the planet's bird species, 1/3 of the primate species of tropical America, more than 56,000 registered species of phanerogams plants and nearly a thousand permanent rivers" (p. 83).

The National University of Colombia (cited by [39]), indicates that the country has "unlimited water in terms of availability for all Colombians, as [it has] an annual average rainfall that is well above the world average, there are approximately 720,000 river basins and around 10 rivers with permanent flows" [39]. Indeed, a 2015 report by the Global Water Partnership recognized Colombia as the country with the third largest freshwater reserves in the world.

In the same year, however, the United Nations ranked the country 24th in the world in terms of its water quality and availability, and according to 2014, National Water Study carried out by Colombia's Ministry for Environment, the country's water resources are in a critical state.

Given this context, the outlook seems less than encouraging, and this situation has been compounded by the environmental licenses granted for the construction of medium- and mega-sized hydroelectric power plants, which have affected the surrounding ecosystems and, therefore, the local communities, in terms of disease, poverty, and displacement.

Additionally, there is a public debate in Colombia about hydraulic fracturing. Commonly called fracking, an unconventional drilling method to extract natural gas and oil that produces harmful environmental and social impacts. The insistence on unconventional extraction of hydrocarbons by large multinational oil companies is generally accompanied by promises of "local development," but the exact opposite

*Experiences of Socio-Environmental Organizations and Movements in the Framework… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106282*

usually occurs. One example of this is "the Magdalena Medio region, where the fracking studies or pilot projects are set to be carried out, has ended up being established as a sacrifice zone" [40].

Sacrifice zones are the contradictions generated under the pretense of development. Too often, the revenues and profits of project owners are protected while surrounding communities are unprotected against public health issues, poverty, and armed conflict.

Another issue related to the extraction of hydrocarbons is the integrity failures that lead to the loss of the ecosystem. The case that best illustrates the implications of integrity failure, and the one most frequently referred to in Colombia, occurred in March 2018 in La Fortuna, a rural area of Barrancabermeja, at the Lizama 158 well. Over 29 days, more than 550 barrels of oil, water, mud, and gas leaked into the surrounding area affecting the 49 bodies of water that flow into the Magdalena river, including the La Lizama creek and the Sogamoso river, and damaging ecosystems, animal life and the surrounding communities [40].

In the face of this discouraging outlook relating to fracking in Colombia, resistance to the extractive industries that operate under the pretext of development has produced a united citizenry and anti-fracking activism [that] has managed to mobilize the population by creating, alongside the social force opposing the extractive model, a compelling discourse in defense of water, territory, and health, that challenges the country to think of other ways of life more in harmony with nature [41].

Although a review of the legal background shows that the Colombian state has an explicit interest in sustainability and the protection of ecosystems, environmental conflicts have emerged that reveal the disconnection and negligence of the current regulations with the reality and needs of the territories and the people who live there.
