La Explotación Del Hierro y su Impacto Socioambiental Comunitario en México y Colombia: Una Perspectiva Comparada

Abstract

Iron ore mining generates significant revenue for Mexico and Colombia, but this revenue is rarely reflected in projects that impact the communities that live with its effects on a daily basis. This gap between the profitability advertised by the sector and the actual conditions of those who live in the extraction areas is the starting point of this article. The work was based on a documentary analysis, succinctly reviewing the mining legislation of each country, institutional documentary information, and the study of two emblematic cases from Colombia and Mexico. In the Colombian case, the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and the administrative actions issued by the National Mining Agency (ANM), which has intervened directly in conflicts between mining companies and communities, were examined. In Mexico, constitutional, environmental, and social regulations were reviewed, as well as the guidelines of the institutions that govern mining. The following table shows the agencies that regulate iron ore mining projects in Mexico. The contrast between the two countries is evident, given that Colombia not only has administrative regulations in place for fulfilling its obligations, but has also established mechanisms for constitutional control and redistribution, such as prior consultation, constitutional protection actions, and the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Colombia. These mechanisms guarantee oversight by state entities and citizen participation in mining and environmental matters. Meanwhile, Mexico still maintains models centered on the Federal Government, which, through the Ministry of Economy and specifically through the General Directorate of Mines (DGM), is the authority responsible for granting mining concessions (titles) and monitoring them, with little participation or direct judicial intervention in extractive socio-environmental conflicts. However, even though both countries have regulatory frameworks governing mining, neither has succeeded in making mining activity have a more significant social impact on the communities located in the area of influence of the deposits. On the contrary, they have allowed social and environmental degradation to accumulate in the territories where mining projects are carried out. The question that remains after the analysis is not whether the regulatory frameworks are better or worse, but rather, why are they still insufficient in the face of an activity that transforms a socio-environmental reality, where the soil, water, and community life are irreversibly affected? Finally, this study seeks to propose recommendations that strengthen the sustainability of mining activity with a low socio-environmental impact.