Colombia, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, recorded its lowest deforestation rate in 23 years in 2023. Last year, 79,256 hectares of forest were lost across Colombian territory, a 36% reduction compared to the 123,517 hectares cut down and burned in 2022. These are the lowest numbers since records began and are a boost for the government of Gustavo Petro, a president with a marked environmentalist accent who is preparing to host the United Nations summit on biodiversity at the end of this year, COP16, which will be held in Cali starting in October.
“This is the lowest figure since we have had a historical series in the country, since 2000. For the first time, this figure has been substantially reduced and below 100,000 hectares. This is a truly iconic year in this fight against deforestation,” said the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad, on Monday, when presenting the consolidated annual figures at a press conference in Bogotá. “We have identified that there is a direct association between peace and the result of deforestation; conditions of peace generate reduction,” said the official, highlighting the strengthening of conservation agreements, especially in what is known as the Amazon arc.
The reductions were significant in the four departments that make up the Amazon arc: Meta (-57%), Putumayo (-52%), Caquetá (-34%) and Guaviare (-27%). The conservation of these ecosystems is key to guaranteeing, among many other things, the regulation of the climate and the water supply in the Andean region of Colombia, which includes distant Bogotá – currently subject to rationing – through the so-called “flying rivers”.
The deforestation containment plan outlined by the Colombian Ministry of the Environment includes strategies such as the Conservar Paga program, which tripled the incentives for communities that commit to protecting forests. While the previous government of Iván Duque militarized environmental policy, Petro’s government favors working hand in hand with these communities.
Despite the good news, dark clouds are appearing on the horizon. The milestone represented by the new figure in the fight against deforestation may be at risk in this new year. Minister Muhamad herself had raised an alarm in April about the possibility of a “historic peak” in forest loss in 2024, in the midst of the crisis in the dialogues with the dissidents of the extinct FARC guerrilla group grouped in the self-proclaimed Central General Staff, a fragmented organization that is more outside than inside the total peace policy. The Government negotiates with less than half of the structures of the divided EMC, which is the dominant armed actor in the departments where deforestation devours huge chunks of forest every year.
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