[en] The concern for the rational and appropriate use of the renewable natural resources in the extraction processes, benefit, transformation of the minerals is recent, although there are dispositions from principles of the republic that refer to that relationship. Presently article is made a journey by such dispositions, it is explained how it should have restructured the executive branch of the public power to put on in consonance with the changes in environmental matter and like it has belonged the process of adaptation from the mining managers to those legislative changes

[en] The author intend to show how the perspective of institutional economy, worried about natural resources and the environment, insists in the necessity of a conceptual reconstruction of the concept of economy. This proposal is presented by considering three main aspects essentials for that reconstruction: a) The displacement of the philosophical assumptions of XVIII and XIX countries, b) Reformulation a widening of the meaning of the basic concepts and c) How to complement the marked price analysis with the consideration of social values. After analyzing these aspects it is show how they are applied to the study of natural resources and environmental problems through the notion of social costs

[en] The article refers to the concept of agrarian sustainability from a complex perspective, underlying its ambiguity in relation with the interpretations given by the different actors. The difficulties to understand and apply the concept to the Colombian agrarian sector under the present historic moment of chronic war are presented, discussing some aspects of equity in the distribution and quality of agrarian products. The principal factors mentioned as obstacles to reach agrarian sustainability are the diversity of approaches towards agriculture; the multiple facets of sustainability and the various challenges posed by the scientific and technological revolution all the new biotechnological developments. Biological war to cocaine is presented as an example of technological dependence and some structural aspects of the university educational sector are debated in relation to the environmental problematic

[en] This article is a preliminary analysis of eight workshops developed with the local committees for disasters prevention on the Aburra Valley. No one of these committees has at this moment a clear and coherent policies for disasters prevention that make possible to establish administration and community procedures according to the national laws. As a result they do not have specific goals to achieve a permanent action. In most of cases is missing an organized structure to articulate all the different agencies and employees involved. The committees do not have a periodical prepared meetings schedule, what they do is just making emergency reunions to answer to calamity situations. Even though all the cities have a responsible officials staff for emergency management, they have others priorities so the prevention disasters work is left on a second level. In the second part of this article are presented some theoretical elements about disasters and are developed some legal aspects that support the policies related to this topic

[en] The article contains the antecedents of the collection of the recompensing rates in Colombia at the beginning of the decade of the eighty it not insinuates as a mechanism for the atmospheric contamination. Later on the law 99 of 1993 defines it as the most important mechanism to not achieve the contamination of sources of water in the country. It establishes this way it the ordinance 901 of April of 1997 by means of which the process of implementation of the recompensing rates begins in the Oriente Antioqueno where at the moment is carried out the collection in eight basins. The article also registers the results that leave the economic instrument in what refers at levels of non-contamination of basins and in money collected after having billed five semesters. Likewise it reports a series of benefits that leaves the instrument after two years of implementation in the Oriente Antioqueno

[en] This work intends to establish the knowledge demand in ecology and environmental sciences needed for the environmental management of energy projects; in this development a large number of people were consulted in order to obtain results as broad and valid as possible. Using several methodological strategies and sources (pool, workshop, document search and feedback from experts) an analysis on the needs of research as a necessary input to the environmental management process was obtained. A sub-sector analysis (coal, electricity, oil and alternative energies) was preformed to get the detail necessary to point out specific topics that are considered a priority for the allocation of research funds. This work should be a guide to orient the ecological an environment research with the management needs of the energy sector. It also should be useful as a reference for the definition of science and technology policies for the energy sector, the national environmental system and the national system of science and technology

[en] The economic processes in the upstream San Juan River are determined by decisions taken in cultural frames in which the traditional groups and peasants build in hybrid forms of existence according with their own history and the availability of resources in the territory. In this way, they alternate different production systems that introduce them in different social and economic groups: local, zonal, regional, national and trans national; each one with a specific rationality, impacting in a particular way, in agreement with the system of dominant production over the environment. The features of the society and culture that impact the economic decision making can be revealed and strengthened in a coherent strategy that respects the regional and group specificities and that looks for the sustainable development of the region

[en] The international trade conventional theory not only continues being supported upon the classic principle of comparative advantage, but also, in response to the rationality inherent to the traditional economic system, al so neglects considering the biophysical conditions under which transable goods are produced. The linkage of environment to trade is a recent concern, and it is explained on the basis that the first one has become a barrier for the second one. The environmental cause defenders, so as the free market advocates, are exposing their arguments in a context in which not necessarily to build viable solutions to the conflict is possible. The world economy behavior and tendencies do not offer the conditions needed so as that the official thesis in which the GATT - Rio - WTO thought can be summarized and the positive linkage towards the environmental quality, explicitly claimed by that thesis, becomes reality. Form these considerations, it is argument in this article in the direction of establishing a new international trade pattern and also some ideas are presented as to its characterization ecological economic view

[en] The paper presents a critical and systematic reading of the debate being developed in the United Nations commission on sustainable development, trying to identify the different meanings given to the notion of sustainability inside this new international forum. The study has comprehended fourteen official documents written to the second and third CSD sessions, happened respectively in 1994 and 1995, including different issues as technology transfer, trade, land, desertification, forests and biodiversity, critical elements of sustainability, human settlements, toxic hazards and poverty

[en] In order to obtain the best social and environmental results from mining activities, different solutions, which involve a variety of perspectives, have been proposed. These include the worldwide perspective based in the economy globalization paradigms; the regional perspective, focused in the integration of countries; the national perspective, which emphasizes the natural assets and development options, and finally a local perspective is incorporated to account for the participation of directly affected communities. Within this framework, the mining industry is requested to develop both technological and managerial tools appropriate to evaluate, optimize and communicate the social and environmental performance and output of its related activities, mainly in the developing countries. On the other hand, the governments have been committed to implement regulatory actions, of command and control type, based on an environmental legislation in line with the above mentioned perspectives and also to use economical instruments as a mean to accomplish environmental objectives. In Colombia the direct regulation methods have been traditionally used to prevent the environmental deterioration produced by mining activities, however, since the 1991 political constitution and the law 99 of 1993, the communities' participation and economical instruments were incorporated. A historic summary of the environmental legislation in our country from the early 70's up to now, showing its implications in mining is presented. Then a favorable tendency is indicated in the environmental improvement of the national extractive industry, accomplished as a result of the implementation of new strategies to minimize the impact of mining on the environment and to improve the well being of local communities