One-hundred and seventy-three families from Colombia’s northern Cesar state agreed to a relocation program with multinational mining corporations, local media reported Monday.
The plan, initiated 3 years ago by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, sought an agreement with multinational mining companies Drummond, CNR and Prodeco on how to have families living near industrial operating facilities could lead more sustainable–ie. non-polluted or exploited–lives. The families, who all live in an area called Plan Bonito, have only just come to a complete agreement this past weekend.
The new locations of these families, nor the specifics of who will be financing the relocation, have not been made public yet.
The environmental impact produced by the mining industry has increasingly unsettled the community in Plan Bonito. The Ministry of Mines and Energy believes that a move away from these plants will provide these families with a better quality of life, according to radio station Caracol Radio.
A UN report published in January 2014 concluded that large-scale mining in Cesar was raising poverty levels of local communities.
MORE: Large-scale mining increases poverty in northern Colombia: UN
The local government in Cesar will also consider similar plans for other nearby communities such as El Boqueron and El Atillo.