CATAPA vzw

CATAPA is an organisation in Belgium. We are active in the fields of globalization (and how to change it) and sustainable development in Latin America. We focus on the mining industry by supporting farming communities threatened by multinational mining corporations. CATAPA stands for Comité Académico Técnico de Asesoramiento a Problemas Ambientales, literally Technical Academic Committee for Assistance in Environmental Issues.

Due to demographic growth and economic liberalization, the number of mining exploitations has boomed over the last years. The mining industry's impact on the social, economic, cultural and ecological level is often disastrous and fundamentally unjust. The economic policy that allows this is set out in the West, while the South suffers the negative consequences. We aim to alter these structural causes of poverty and exclusion by forming a resolute front with the social middle field in North and South. CATAPA intends to play a trailblazing role in Belgium as well as on an international level in order to address this aggravating issue and wants to offer alternatives for responsible mining.