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Colombia: Biogas Latrines for Internally Displaced People

Colombia's nearly four million internally displaced people often live in overcrowded urban slums with abysmal sanitary conditions. Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

The 45-year-long armed conflict in Colombia has intensified over the past eight years, resulting in nearly four million internally displaced people (IDPs). Most IDPs originate from rural communities and have been forcefully displaced by fighting among left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug traffickers and the army. The majority of IDPs settle in urban slums surrounding Colombia's major cities, with no intention of returning to their original communities due to the absence of security and, more frequently, the presence of land mines.

The lack of sanitation facilities in IDP neighborhoods is widespread. Many households do not have electricity or running water, while those that do are often unable to pay their energy bills. Water-borne diseases are a frequent cause of illness leading to malnourishment — among children in particular. Inappropriate sanitation facilities also contribute to increased CO2 emissions from greenhouse gases.

The tragedy of IDPs in Colombia has endemic social, economic and environmental repercussions that Mercy Corps seeks to address.

How we're helping

Your donation will make a difference.

Mercy Corps Colombia is providing assistance to IDPs in emergency settings, as well as encouraging long-term integration into their adopted communities. The influx of a large number of IDP families into already poor neighborhoods with extremely limited access to water, sanitation, adequate housing, health and education has exasperated already squalid living conditions.

In response to sanitation and environmental concerns, we will pilot biogas latrines in urban slums. The initiative will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This initial project will begin in Popayán, the capital of the Cauca Department southwestern Colombia. The work will be implemented in partnership with APROTEC, a local Colombian non-governmental organization specialising in renewable energy.

Each biogas digestor latrine costs $650 to construct, and saves 0.8 tons in CO2 emissions per year. You can click here to support this project through a donation to our Climate Change Initiative.

How your investment will be used

The project will build low-cost biogas digester latrines in participant households. The biogas digester technology already exists in Colombia on a small scale that can be expanded, particularly in urban areas. With community participation — and with APROTEC's technical support — practical, low-cost biogas digesting latrines will be designed, tested and then replicated in other IDP communities.