BOGOTA, Colombia (AP), Environmental groups are concerned about a sharp increase of fires in Colombia’s Amazon Region. They blame people clearing forest to make room for cattle ranches and coca farms, as well as illegal roads.
On Tuesday, more than 150 activists and academics from Brazil, France, Spain, Colombia and Brazil sent a letter asking President Ivan Duque to take a stronger stance against deforestation. He asked for the use of the military to extinguish the fires, economic alternatives for the Amazon region, and the arrest of those who finance the clearing of the forest.
This is a tragedy that could be prevented, according to Sandra Vilardy, a biology instructor at Los Andes University Bogota, who also leads an inter-disciplinary group that monitors the deforestation of Colombia’s national park.
The dry season in Colombia’s Amazon region lasts from January to March. This usually leads to an increase in forest fires. However, environmental groups warn that the number of forest fires this year is quite impressive.
The Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development, which monitors and leads projects to stop deforestation, reported that it detected more fires in the Colombian Amazon than it did last year. That’s an increase of 65 fires. It was the largest January fire count since 2012.
The foundation uses data about heat points from Global Forest Watch to compare it with satellite images and data it gathered on its own flights above the Amazon.
Alejandra Gomez is the coordinator of the foundations monitoring program. She said that the fires indicate growing deforestation in Colombia’s Amazon, particularly along the rainforests northwestern edge, where agriculture has been expanding rapidly.
These areas were likely cut down in November and farmers will burn the downed plants once the dry season begins.
The Colombian Environment Ministry reported late last month that the heat points recorded over the Colombian Amazon were the highest in a decade. Nicolas Galarza, vice minister for territorial plans, however, cautioned heat points are not always the same as fires. He indicated that January data on deforestation would be available later in the year.
Galarza stated that 170 fires have been put out by Colombian firefighters in the Amazon this year.
According to statistics from the government, Colombia’s deforestation peak was in 2017, when it lost 219,000 hectares (815 sq miles) of forest. In 2020, the latest year for which data is available, Colombia lost 171,000 ha of forest cover.
Colombia’s government has attempted to stop deforestation by using military operations against illegal loggers in national parks, and by making cutting down forests and financing deforestation a criminal offense punishable by 15 year imprisonment
Galarza explained that the government has also offered subsidies for families to forest preservation programs, and increased financing for firefighters.
Vice minister says that deforestation poses a huge challenge. It is something we must not ignore.
Critics claim that programs promoting sustainable use and conservation of forests, such by harvesting natural crop like Acai berries from the forest, only involve several hundred families while the region’s dependency on cattle ranching seems growing.
According to the Colombian Institute for Agriculture, the number of cattle in three Amazonian provinces has more than doubled between 2016-2020. The Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development supported an investigation that found that the number of cattle in three villages bordering national parks increased from 80,000 in 2016 and 194,000 in 2020.
After a peace agreement with the government, Colombia’s largest rebel army, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (RAFC), left many areas of the Amazon in 2016. Analysts believe that their departure has encouraged cattle ranchers to move in and clear foresta where rebels relied on for cover.
Vilardy stated that the inability of the government to prevent the fires makes sustaining the country’s recent commitments at the Glasgow global climate conference to reduce carbon emissions and preserve the natural environment more difficult.
She said that deforestation will continue, and some parts of the Colombian Amazon may stop capturing carbon emissions. Instead, they will become net producers. She noted that Tinigua National Park has already lost 45% its original forest cover.
Vilardy said that this area is essential for the regulation of the world’s climate. The levels of deterioration in the northern Amazon cannot be sustained.