Colombia: Colombian Military Combats Unprecedented Deforestation

Nov 21, 2019 | Oliver Barrett, Diálogo
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Colombia is home to a large swath of the Amazon; an area roughly the size of Germany and England combined, and its unique ecosystem is under threat. The explosion in recent years of illicit land grabs, illicit crop cultivation, and illegal mining, among others, has been ravaging the rainforest. To address the issue, Colombia not only reached a landmark decision in 2018, recognizing the Amazon as an “entity subject of rights,” but also widened the scope of its military’s mission to encompass the protection of the Amazon and put an end to what Colombian President Iván Duque called the “deforesting hemorrhage.”