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OCTAVO 1 Reading AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM

According to the United Nations, deforestation is the biggest environmental problem in Colombia. Colombia loses 3,000 square kilometers of forest each year primarily due to agriculture and mining. Agricultural expansion has increased pesticide and fertilizer use by 360% over the past 20 years, polluting soils. Coal mining has also increased significantly, with coal now the second largest export. However, 50% of mining in Colombia is illegal, which brings even greater environmental damage through unchecked destruction of vegetation and water pollution from toxic substances. Both illegal mining and unsustainable agriculture have serious negative impacts on air, soil, water and public health.

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LUZ DARY HERNANDEZ ARDILA
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57 views2 pages

OCTAVO 1 Reading AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM

According to the United Nations, deforestation is the biggest environmental problem in Colombia. Colombia loses 3,000 square kilometers of forest each year primarily due to agriculture and mining. Agricultural expansion has increased pesticide and fertilizer use by 360% over the past 20 years, polluting soils. Coal mining has also increased significantly, with coal now the second largest export. However, 50% of mining in Colombia is illegal, which brings even greater environmental damage through unchecked destruction of vegetation and water pollution from toxic substances. Both illegal mining and unsustainable agriculture have serious negative impacts on air, soil, water and public health.

Uploaded by

LUZ DARY HERNANDEZ ARDILA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CENTRO DE COMERCIO

Student: _______________________________________ Course: _________________


Teacher: Yibeth O. Alvarez S. Term: ___________ Date: ____________________

READING COMPREHENSION DID YOU KNOW THAT…?

AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM

According to the United Nations, the biggest environmental problem in Colombia is deforestation.
Colombia loses 3.000 square kilometres of forest every year. We are cutting down the forests
because agriculture demands a lot of land. This destroys ecosystems, and pollutes the soil with
excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. Did you know that, according to the Word Bank,
Colombia increased the use of pesticides by 360% in the last 20 years? Farmers in regions like
Boyacá or Cundinamarca use very dangerous pesticides.

Another reason for deforestation is mining. Mining is a very important industry because the world
still depends on fossil fues like coil, oil, and gas to produce energy. Did you know that only 20 years
ago, the biggest exports from Colombia were agricultural products?

Now, coal is the second largest export. Since the year 2000, the production of coal has increased
by 85%. Illegal mining brings more serious environmental problems than agriculture. It destroys all
the vegetation, causing erosion and water pollution. For example, the coal mining El Cerrejón is
the second biggest open mine in the world. This mine pollutes the soil, the rivers around the mine
and even the beaches and the ocean.

Illegal mining is even worse because there is no government control. According to the Ministry of
Mines and Energy, 50% of the mining in Colombia is ilegal. Did you know that 80% of that illegal
mining for gold is happening in Chocó and Antioquia?

It is also happening very fast in Guainía and Guaviare. For example, ilegal mining of a mineral
called Coltan destroyed five square kilometres of a nature reserve in three months. There is a great
demand for this mineral for the production of electronics like mobile phone batteries. When
people extract metals and minerals, they use very toxic substances like mercuric and arsenic.
These substances escape from the mines and get into the water.

So, illegal mining and bad practices in AGRICULTURE have catastrophic effects for the air, the soil,
the water and also for our health. The question we need to ask ourselves is: how are we going to
find solutions?

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