During 2023, deforestation in the country was reduced by 36%, compared to the previous year, and in the Amazon by 38%. This was announced on July 8 by the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad, who presented the results of the Monitoring of Forest Area and Deforestation in Colombia.
According to the report of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) presented by Minister Susana Muhammad on July 8, Colombia conserves 59,197,533 hectares of natural forest – 51.9% of the continental and insular territory – mostly concentrated in the Amazon region (38.85 million hectares, that is, 66% of the total forest at the national level). This figure places it as one of the twelve countries with the highest forest cover globally, with about 1.5% of the planet’s forests.
Unfortunately, and although it had the lowest figures of the millennium, deforestation does not stop. In 2023, 79,256 hectares were deforested (123,517 in 2022), 56% of them in the Amazon region (44,274 hectares).
It is important to note that most of the loss of forest cover continues to occur in the Amazonian departments that are part of the so-called “arc of deforestation”: Caquetá (12,647 ha), Guaviare (11,467 ha) and Putumayo (10,852 ha) – 10,310 ha were deforested in Meta and 8,139 ha in Antioquia.
It is also worrying that, in addition to Santander, the areas with the greatest increase in deforestation are Vaupés and Amazonas, departments little affected by this scourge so far. In the latter, there was the largest increase in deforestation in the municipality of La Pedrera, with 804 hectares lost.
On the other hand, despite presenting a reduction in the loss of forest cover, Cartagena del Chairá, Mapiripán, Calamar, San Vicente del Caguán and San José del Guaviare continue to lead the list of deforesting municipalities and the Sierra de La Macarena, Serranía de Chiribiquete, Tinigua and Cordillera de Los Picachos National Natural Parks continue to be affected by this scourge.
We cannot let our guard down
According to the minister, this result is the product of progress in meeting the national goals outlined in the National Development Plan and in Colombia’s international commitment to climate change mitigation, as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). However, we must not lose sight of the fact that although the report is encouraging, the reports presented by Minambiente in April of this year, which warn of an increase in deforestation during the first quarter of 2024, as a result of the El Niño phenomenon and the actions of the Central General Staff (EMC), dissidents of the extinct FARC guerrillas, are worrying. that uses the environment as a form of pressure on negotiations with President Gustavo Petro. “Nature is put in the middle of the conflict and this is a violation of international humanitarian law in which, clearly, environmental damage is prohibited as a form of armed pressure,” he said.
In that period alone, around 109,000 hectares of forest were cut down in the country, an increase of 40% compared to the same period last year and, according to the Ministry, the La Macarena, Tinigua and Chiribiquete National Natural Parks, and the Nukak and Yaguará II reservations continue to be the most deforested protected areas.
With respect to the latter, in 2023 the Frankfurt Zoological Society warned of the expansion of an illegal road just four kilometers from the Chiribiquete National Park, within the Llanos del Yarí Yaguará II indigenous reservation, which connected with other illegal roads and served as a communication route for deforesters. Precisely, illegal road infrastructure is one of the main drivers of deforestation and, according to studies carried out by the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development, 93% of the areas opened by deforestation in Caquetá, Meta and Guaviare are less than 2 km from road access, which proves the causal relationship between illegal roads and forest loss.
Main direct causes of deforestation in Colombia during 2023
- Praderization oriented to land grabbing.
- Unsustainable extensive livestock farming practices.
- Development of unplanned transport infrastructure.
- Crops for illicit use.
- Illicit extraction of minerals.
- Illegal logging.
- Expansion of the agricultural frontier in areas not allowed.
- Biophysical factors (wind chagras and landslides).
