Evaluation of the cultural and environmental sustainability of traditional mining in Quinchía, Risaralda. Case study: Special Mining Reserve Area (Corporación área de reserva especial minera-corpoare)

Abstract

Traditional mining is one of the main economic activities of the Municipaliy of Quinchía, located in the Department of Risaralda. This Municipality, with a mineral wealth in 60% of its territory, houses 13 mining associations that, under the neoliberal perspective reflected in aspects such as neo-extractivism, has been identified as unsustainable due to their effects on ecosystems and the defficient contribution to the national economy. The objective of the research was to analyze the the traditional mining of the Municipality of Quinchía towards the evaluation of the cultural and environmental sustainability of the activity. To this end, thirteen cultural and environmental indicators were defined, nine of them aimed at assessing the cultural and environmental sustainability of traditional mining developed by to Special Mining Reserve Area Corporation (CORPOARE for its acronym in Spanish). This is an agro-mining organization conformed by 83 traditional miners, located in an area of 584 acres in the Municipality of Quinchía. These indicators, guided by the theoretical reference of cultural and environmental sustainability, allowed concluding that the mining activity developed by CORPOARE in the context of local development is sustainable in the cultural, social and environmental aspects.