Participation of the Regulatory and productive Sectors in the "Cleaner Production Agreements" for the Oil Industry in Colombia

Abstract

Abstract Recent Colombian governments have been engaged in the process of structuring a complete environmental legislation framework. It has generated pressures for the productive sectors, on top of those raised by the existing social and political unrest. Moreover, there is the need for the country to establish a continued development growth pace, and to increase its participation and competitiveness in the international markets, taking full advantage of its plentiful natural resources and its strategic geographic situation. To meet these diverse demands, the private sector, jointly with the state agencies and representatives of the society, have negotiated an agreement scheme, in order to get to feasible ways for carrying out the economic activities while maintaining a responsible environmental attitude. In this presentation it is intended to show how the petroleum industry has managed to operate within this scheme, through the collaboration among the State, the private sector and society in general to establish an environmental management model. This scheme has allowed the country to reconcile many of the common interests among such sectors and improve social and environmental management in their execution, especially the way in which operating companies were involved in the process and have benefit from it. One of the ways of making this collaboration more effective was reflected by entering into sectorial agreements resulting from a national "Cleaner Production" policy of the State. In line with this policy, the Oil sector signed an agreement called "AGREEMENT FOR CLEANER PRODUCTION FOR THE OIL SECTOR" with The Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Ecopetrol, the state-owned oil company, and operating companies through the Colombian Petroleum Association and other environmental authorities. As a result of these agreements, their benefits and products will be shown. Thus, terms of reference and very precise environmental guidelines were developed to carry out "Upstream" and "Downstream" operations. In their preparation, the best practices of the industry worldwide merged. Such practices arose from policy application of head offices, under Colombian legislation, and then adapted to the highest but feasible standards in the environment in which they are to be applied. Developing relations of the industry with society in general, ethnic minorities and environmental authorities have reflected the benefits of the process. However, this fact does not mean that public debates, which have definitely been strengthened within a climate of greater clarity and understanding, should cease to exist. Introduction This paper presents the framework to define the agreements for a cleaner production in Colombia signed by the government, the private sector, and the society represented by several participation mechanisms. First, the principles and policies ruling the environmental management are presented as well as the legal framework which resulted in the execution of a clean production agreement. Second, there is a summary of the agreements content. Lastly, the current progress on these agreements in the Oil sector is presented.