We care for the environment to preserve our future

We recognize the importance of our natural resources, that is why over the years we have operated under the premise of being environmentally responsible and sustainable, based on the principles of innovation and progress, which mark our way to continue working together with the communities, taking care of the environment that surrounds us, and bringing welfare and development to the regions in harmony with nature.

For this reason, when we started the construction of El Quimbo Hydroelectric Power Plant, the largest of the Enel Group in Latin America, our main focus has been to protect and conserve the ecosystem around the project, thus the designing of multiple strategies oriented to the preservation of biodiversity in the area.

WE RESTORE TO GUARANTEE THE CONSERVATION OF OUR BIODIVERSITY

The ecosystem of the tropical dry forest is one of the most important in conservation worldwide, due to the numerous species of flora and fauna it hosts. Currently, it is one of the least explored and is considered one of the most threatened and degraded. Specifically in our country, according to the Alexander Von Humboldt Institute, we once had 9 million hectares of tropical dry forest, of which only 8% remain today.

For this reason, as part of the measures established in the Environmental License of El Quimbo Hydroelectric Power Plant, we developed the largest scale Ecological Restoration Program in Colombia, with the purpose of restoring 11,079 hectares of tropical dry forest located on the left margin of the reservoir, in the municipalities of El Agrado, Gigante, Garzón, Paicol and Tesalia in the department of Huila.

For the successful execution of this program, it was necessary to carry out a pilot plan, which we carried out from 2014 to April 2018, together with the Natura Foundation, an organization with more than 30 years of experience in environmental conservation issues. For this first phase, we selected 140 hectares distributed in different areas, where we conducted ecological studies and scientific analyzes that allowed us to find 260 species of flora from 194 different genera; discover a new species of Bromelia, the Pitcairnia Huilensis, endemic to the eastern slope of the Cordillera Central; identify 155 bird, 29 mammal, 23 reptile and 12 amphibian species; carry out propagation works of more than 214 thousand seedlings belonging to 62 species; and selecting more than 55 restoration strategies, which turned out to be the most effective and adequate to be replicated on a large scale in the totality of the hectares covered by the project.

In the execution of this pilot plan, more than 200 people were involved, including professionals, technicians, field assistants and nurserymen. Likewise, we have the active participation of the academy, which allowed the consolidation of the first Research Center and practical knowledge in the country's tropical dry forest. This center has a nursery, offices, laboratories and ecological trails, which we have made available for the development of 16 research projects carried out by 20 students from different universities.

Based on the results obtained from this pilot plan, we started the second phase of our ecological restoration program, in which we have proposed the intervention of 500 hectares in the next 3 years, and the goal is that by 2024, Huila will have more than 2 thousand hectares completely restored.

PROMOTING THE PRESERVATION OF OUR ECOSYSTEMS

As environmental sustainability is a fundamental aspect of our business strategy, we want to encourage in the country the development of initiatives such as our ecological restoration program, which are oriented toward the preservation of our natural resources. That is why we held the symposium "Ecological restoration, a fundamental piece of environmental sustainability in Colombia", which had the participation of important representatives and experts in environmental matters, to present the successful results that we obtained in our pilot plan, and highlight the importance of working together and involving the different actors, in order to achieve the sustainability over time of the environmental projects that are undertaken.

“The main reason for this encounter is to share with the country the best practices and strategies that we have identified up to now, through the Pilot Plan of our Ecological Restoration Program of El Quimbo. This program that we are advancing in Huila is a sample of our social and environmental commitment with Colombia, contributing to the protection of the environment and fostering the development of scientific knowledge”

– Lucio Rubio, Director General.