Deforestation in Colombia fell to historic levels in 2023, according to the government

The deforestation in Colombia fell 36% in 2023 compared with the previous year, reaching its lowest level since records began, the government reported.

The decline was driven by a slowdown in environmental destruction in the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, President Gustavo Petro’s government said. About a third of that decline occurred in Colombia, it added.

Nationwide deforestation was reduced to about 792 square kilometers (about 305 square miles) in 2023, compared with about 1,235 km² (about 477 mi²) a year earlier. Just over half of the deforestation occurred in the Amazon.

The decline means that 44,262 hectares of forest have stopped being cut down, Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Susana Muhamad told reporters.

Upon election in 2022, Petro pledged to end the high rate of deforestation in the Amazon by limiting the expansion of the agricultural sector in the rainforest and creating reserves where indigenous communities and others are allowed to harvest rubber, açaí and other non-timber forest products.

Progress in peace talks between the government and guerrillas in the area, along with financial incentives for farmers in the Amazon to help conservation, drove the decline. Deforestation had already been reduced by about 29% in 2022.

Environmental experts have said in previous years that the decline in deforestation is also likely linked to orders from dissident FARC guerrilla groups banning deforestation. Muhamad said Monday that the strong presence of the government’s armed forces in these areas, as well as progress made in peace talks, will be crucial to maintaining a downward trend.

But next year’s figures don’t look as promising. There has already been a significant increase in deforestation due to the effects of dry weather caused by El Niño — a weather phenomenon that warms the central Pacific Ocean — Muhamad said. Cattle ranching, drug cultivation and illegal mining and logging continue to be drivers of deforestation in the Andean nation, she added.

The information was released as Colombia prepares to host the United Nations COP16 biodiversity summit, which will take place in the southwestern city of Cali starting on October 21.

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