In the Colombian community of Cajamarca, young people are fighting against the plans of a multinational group to reduce gold there. They want to get the fertile soils, the biological diversity and the clean water sources in their homeland.
Yefferson Rojas was 17 years old and still a student when the mining group Anglogold Ashananti discovered gold in his home country in 2007 and began with trial bores: "We didn't know anything about mining," he says. “We first had to inquire what that means for us. And we understood that the open -cast mine, as the group intends to do, would destroy our biological diversity, our water sources and our livelihood. «
The young people teamed up and organized the resistance: they founded the environmental collective Cosajuca (Colectivo Socio-Ambiental Juvenil de Cajamarca), spoke to the farmers' families and expose the promises of the group to bring progress, work and prosperity to Cajamarca. Together with other environmental organizations, they fought a referendum in 2017, and the result was clearly: 98 percent of the 6,241 votes cast voted against the mining project. A huge success that the group could not ignore. He stopped the activities, closed the offices and retired - for the time being.
"We have to fight"
The rich gold deposits in Cajamarca does not want to give up Anglogold Ashanti, because there are high profits. "Five court proceedings are currently underway in which the importance of the referendum is questioned," says Yefferson. "We have to fight."
The motto of the young environmentalists is: "Cajamarca, La Inconquistable", Cajamarca, the invincible. And so the festivals are also called that they address children from remote rural schools with artistics, music and art and inspire them for the beauty and protection of their environment. "The children and adolescents have an important role," says Yefferson, who coordinates both the festivals as well as workshops on biodiversity and environmental protection at schools with the support of Terre Des Hommes and BMZ (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development). “They watch their environment and see what happens to her. They want to get the animals, plants and their habitat. They show the adults the rich biological diversity that exists here. And they make it clear to them that they have to be protected. "
