Protecting the Amazon Means Protecting Local Communities

Jul 23, 2018 | Aditi Sen
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A recent report released by the government of Colombia highlights a 23% surge in deforestation in the country from 2016 to 2017, most notably in the Amazon region. Other parts of the Andean Amazon are also under threat as the agricultural frontier continues to expand into natural forests. In May 2018, Oxfam convened a forum in Lima, Peru, that focused on the environmental and human rights impacts of Big Ag in Latin America. I was struck by the powerful testimonies given by several indigenous leaders about how deep in the Amazon—one of the world’s largest rain forests and their ancestral home—vast areas of forests are being bulldozed to make way for large-scale plantations, putting at risk their land, their water, and their ways of life.