Colombia: Colombian Farmers, Ranchers Join Businesses to Turn the Tide on Amazon Deforestation

Jun 12, 2020 | Dimitri Selibas, Mongabay
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Putumayo department along with neighboring Caquetá department have witnessed some of the highest levels of deforestation in Colombia, in part driven by the coca trade. But the primary driver of deforestation in Colombia’s Amazon remains the illegal appropriation of land, with forests converted into pasture. Rodrigo Botero, director of the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS), says Colombia has one of the last vast agricultural frontiers in the world, creating an enticing scenario for land grabbing. This issue, he tells Mongabay in a phone interview, is amplified by a lack of territorial control and clear inter-institutional responsibility: at least eight government agencies have overlapping jurisdiction over national deforestation response.