Territorial Impacts of Mining

Abstract

Written by a professor at the School of Regional Urban Planning of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín campus, this article proposes the concept of territorial impact as a complementary framework to environmental impact for examining the effects of mining in Colombia. The author examines three aspects: positive economic and social effects, effects on ecosystems, and effects on regional development, pointing to the structural tension between national authority over the subsoil and municipal authority over land-use planning. The text concludes that mining in Colombia has developed as an extractivist enclave economy in frontier areas with weak institutions, proposing to move beyond both positions that justify mining without reservation and those that categorically reject it.