Through a statement on their social networks, the Colectivo Unidos por Gorgona announced that the meeting they would have on January 27, 2023 with Vice President Francia Márquez in Guapi, Cauca was postponed until further notice.
The fact was due to the funding limitations for the displacement of several of the communities that would attend the meeting, given that they did not have the resources for mobilization to the announced meeting point. The Collective pointed out that the event will be postponed until it is ensured that all the summoned communities can attend without problems.
He also mentioned that Parques Colombia assured that it was not necessary for all the communities to go to the place, “once again ignoring the ancestral and legal relationship (Gorgona PNN Management Plan) that all the municipalities in the area of influence have with the Gorgona PNN ”.
It should be remembered that, according to the Collective, this would be the meeting in which for the first time a space for dialogue would be managed with the communities inhabiting the territory in which the National Navy project is being built, which began in 2022 and which, according to the inhabitants, has had a negative impact so far.
In the voice of the Gorgona communities, the Collective affirmed that it is working to financially support the communities and thus have sufficient funds to allow all the leaders to be present in such a delicate process that until now it has not recognized the pronouncement of those who they reside in the area.
He invited the community to collaborate in the fundraiser for the transfer of the Fishermen’s Table and the Bazán community to Guapi, the place where the event would be held. However, while this is happening, the new date on which it would take place is unknown.
The project that afflicts the inhabitants of Gorgona
In order to strengthen control work in the protected areas of Gorgona Island, the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad, once again defended the project of the National Navy that has been carried out in this territory since 2022.
As reported by Muhamad at the World Economic Forum that took place in Davos, the construction of this project, which will have a communications tower, a substation and a dock, is carried out in order to protect the area from environmental crimes such as fishing illegal.
However, the announcement from its inception aroused the rejection of environmental leaders, inhabitants of Gorgona and scientists, who assured that the development of the project could put one of the most important protected areas in Colombia at risk.
The announcement of the project generated great controversy and maintained that its construction is decisive for the preservation of the environment, as well as other associated problems in the area such as drug trafficking.
After it became known in January 2023 that the construction phase of the pier, which will be 132 meters long, would begin, the debate on the continuation of the project was reawakened.
In fact, the United for Gorgona Collective had raised its voice pointing out that the process required the destruction of 61% of the forest, an area of natural recovery of the territory, but to date the opinion of local communities has not been taken into account.
The expectations about the meeting have not extinguished their flame for the inhabitants of Gorgona, who hope to be heard and that at the same time a process of socialization about the project is taking place, which is already having an environmental impact in the region due to the adaptations of the space and the installation of the agents in charge. with Infobae