Colombia: authorities announce agreement to stop environmental crimes in the Amazon

The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Prosecutor’s Office of Colombia announced this Friday a collaboration agreement focused on confronting the mafias that commit environmental crimes and deforest the Amazon, informed the person in charge of this portfolio, Susana Muhamad.

“We cannot continue allowing these large deforestation operations to continue in the light of day and in the sight of everyone without those responsible being brought to justice,” the minister said in a statement shared by her office.

Muhamad met with the newly appointed Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo, and together they drafted a new roadmap that aims to stop deforestation and environmental crimes, illicit mineral extraction, wildlife trafficking, as well as threats registered.

This week, Colombia’s attorney general, Margarita Cabello, warned that the Colombian Amazon is going through a very serious situation led by land grabbing, poor livestock farming practices, the construction of illegal roads and illegal mining.

This alert was added to the one shared a week ago by Muhamad, who said that deforestation in Colombia and the Amazon skyrocketed in the first quarter of this year, with an increase in 40%reaching a “historical peak”.

The increase in deforestation is due, on the one hand, to the dry season aggravated by the El Niño phenomenon, but also to coercion by armed groups in rural areas, which is why both the minister and the prosecutor promised to join forces to “protect the human rights of communities and environmental leaders.”

Despite the peak, a reduction in deforestation is projected this year, with a new decrease of between 25 and 35% compared to the figures for 2023, when the figures were already lower.

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