Guatapuri River in danger

In the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, four thousand meters above sea level, is born
Guatapur river. Its waters, from the Curigua lagoon and flowing into the river Cesar, are
threatened by the effects of climatic change and the human footprint surrounding it. Their
future is uncertain. Urgent action is required for the river Guatapur not to disappear,
because 20 years ago the average flow of the river was eleven thousand liters per second.
That number has drastically reduced. Historically mankind has interacted with the
environment and that has not changed, environmental problems are not new.
So, the sustainable production is the use of services and products that meet basic needs and
provide a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic
materials as well as the emission of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of service or
product, without compromising the needs of future generations. The Ministry of
Environment and Sustainable Development issued the National Policy on Sustainable
Production and Consumption in June 2010, aimed at guiding a change of direction for
production and consumption regarding Guatapur River to obtain environmental
sustainability. This will contribute to the competitiveness of businesses and welfare of the
population.
In addition, The National Policy on Sustainable Production and Consumption in the country
(2009) seeks to change patterns of consumption and production to help the river. It aims to
reduce pollution, conserve natural resources, promote environmental integrity of goods and
services, and encourage the sustainable use of biodiversity in Colombia. This policy has
clear goals as reducing 3% in energy consumption by 2014, and in 2019 this reduction is
10%; 2014 increase by 10% the sale of goods and services environmentally certified; raise
awareness and educate consumers about the rational use of water, energy and consumption
of green products.
However, climate change will not be an exception for the Guatapuri River. The changes
will be more drastic and violent. There will be regions that suffer from an increase in
temperature and others by lack of rain. And some will experience extreme cases of rainfall.
As the impacts will not be the evenly distributed, the government and regional
administrations will have to design and implement differentiated measures to address
climate change and reduce the vulnerability of the territory, which has become increasingly
evident in rural areas and capital cities.
Biodiversity around the river is varied, 20% of the known species of birds of the country
surround the river. There is also a variety of fishes of different colors and shapes and also a
variety of plants. The river is losing these marvels because of the big amounts of pollutants
in there.

To conclude I have to say that the Guatapuri river is in danger. People do not know how to
care it and also the government since most of the sustainable consumption and production
is intended to promote misleading advertising. We have to be aware of our actions and also
we have to implement those to promote a real change to save its species.