The entity required the Municipalities, adopt strategic control actions that restrict the use of visual spaces for the location of distractors and overexploitation of the landscape.

By Eliumat Maza Samper

Control and Monitoring Group Coordinator

Corpoguajira

Corpoguajira, as highest environmental authority in the department, Visual Pollution study advances in Albania, Hatonuevo, Distracción, El Molino, Villanueva, Urumita and La Jagua del Pilar; with which completes the 80% of the analysis of the municipalities of the peninsula. The objective of the project is to raise awareness, not only to leaders and merchants, but to citizens in general about the serious risks to which they are exposed due to this scourge that little by little is deteriorating the beautiful landscape of the Guajiro territory..

Through studies carried out by the Corporation, It has been shown that the excesses of advertising and information (bright or not) in the form of posters on roads and buildings, cause distortion of the natural landscape, They scare away animals and can discourage tourism; making the main settlements of La Guajira, a visual chaos.

In Riohacha and Maicao, for example, The problem manifests itself mainly through posters that invade even the most inaccessible corners., of all colors and shapes imaginable, constituting potential risks for citizens and mainly, for motorists.

To counteract this situation, Corpoguajira has required the municipalities of the department, take the necessary measures to reduce this type of pollution, through strategic command and control actions that restrict the use of visual spaces for the location of distractors and overexploitation of the landscape.

Currently in Colombia, There is no mandatory legal definition for the entire territory, talk about the concept of “visual pollution”, although there is a generic definition of ”pollution” and “pollutant”” included in the National Code of Renewable Natural Resources and Environmental Protection (Art. 82) where is pollution understood?… “the alteration of the environment with substances or forms of energy placed in it, by human activity or nature, in quantities, concentrations or levels capable of interfering with the well-being and health of people, attack flora and fauna, degrade the quality of the environment, of the resources of the Nation or of individuals. Also understood as pollutant … “any element, combination of elements, or form of energy that currently or potentially could produce alterations of those described above…".

Among the consequences of this type of pollution, we find, inter: stress, headache, dangerous distractions (especially when driving a vehicle), traffic accidents and some species of animals move away, thus breaking the ecological balance.