Protecting nature is everyone's responsibility

The destruction of ecosystems has become commonplace, and society seems indifferent to this sad reality. At UCundinamarca, environmental protection is promoted through awareness events, tree planting, recycling campaigns, and other initiatives.

“Being in balance with nature,” explains Rector Adriano Muñoz Barrera. January and February are the months with the highest number of reported forest fires, and according to figures from Ideam, deforestation in the first half of the year... 2020, It is estimated that the deforestation It was 76,200 hectares. An unprecedented figure that worries environmental authorities and should worry us all.

"11% of forest fires are natural, the rest are intentionally set. "In Cundinamarca, this phenomenon occurs because there are farms that carry out their cleaning process and they are within their rights as they are private property; however, the problem is that these fires get out of control and affect reserves," said Fredy Duque, professor of Environmental Engineering.

With each forest fire, the soil and biodiversity are affected; the species in the subsoil take years to regenerate, and the short-term damage is irreparable.

Wildfires, everyone's problem

Forest fires are one of the causes of deforestation in Colombia, which makes them worrying since the loss of forest translates into a lack of oxygen.

Every time a portion of forest is destroyed, the carbon that it stored for years is released, causing more pollution and affecting people's health. "Fires, for example, affect the environment. Many of the orange alerts for pollution were the consequence of fires that occurred in the Amazon. When the fires burned, the winds carried that pollution to the Cundiboyacense plateau, and from there, among other problems, respiratory health issues arose," the teacher explained.

A grain of sand

Training professionals with a sense of protection for nature and harmony with it is one of the contributions that UCundinamarca has; each of the actions of the Environmental Management Unit and the education that Environmental Engineering students receive will allow us to have defenders of the forests.

“In Cundinamarca, we have more than 701% of the potential for fires and forest damage. If the municipalities focus on more than just measuring the risk, but also on assessing vulnerability and addressing it, we could save many more forests in our department,” Duque concluded.

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