Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [34]
Calderón went a step further in November 2008, traveling abroad to plead his case directly to Europeans, who are the fastest-growing consumers of cocaine. According to Calderón, four sq meters of rainforest are destroyed for every gram of cocaine snorted. Drug money also helps fund the terrorist activities of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and other guerrilla groups, he argued. ‘For somebody who drives a hybrid, who recycles, who is worried about global warming – to tell them that a night of partying will destroy 4 sq meters of rainforest might lead them to make another decision,’ said Calderón.
Calderón admits he is fighting an uphill battle. The so-called ‘war on drugs’ has done little to curb the world’s insatiable appetite for the white stuff. Since 2000, the US has given Colombia US$4.9 billion toward eradicating the cocaine trade. From a strategic perspective, this ‘war on drugs’ has been a complete and utter failure. An October 2008 report by the US government found that coca cultivation in Colombia has actually grown by 15% since 2000. Global street prices for cocaine are at record lows. Demand is up. The Amazon is down. Advocates for drug legalization argue that prohibition and unjust drug policies are the real culprits. The debate continues.
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NATIONAL PARKS & PRIVATE RESERVES
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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Deforestation, soil erosion, poor water quality or quantity, and air pollution are all major issues affecting Colombia’s environment, flora and fauna.
The issues behind Colombia’s environmental problems run deep. Poverty and unequal land distribution, which have their roots back in the colonial era, are much to blame for the human encroachment into virgin forests. Each year settlers cut down nearly 405,000 hectares of forest, converting the land to fields. Nowhere is this impact more visible than from the air. Flying into Leticia’s airport, peer out the window and you’ll notice plumes of smoke rising as far as the eye can see. The Amazon rainforest is literally going up in smoke.
Like other countries, the rapid push to develop a market-based economy and compete globally has put pressure on Colombia to build on its land and exploit its natural resources. While similar environmental destruction occurred in North America and Europe many generations ago, the same thing is only just now happening in Colombia – before our eyes and video cameras.
Between 600,000 and 900,000 hectares of forest are lost every year to human encroachment, farming, legal and illegal logging, and mining and oil exploration. Such deforestation has increased the rate of extinction for many plant and animal species and destabilized soils, leading to the silting of rivers and devastation of marine species.
Even more troubling is the environmental impact of the illegal drug trade (see boxed text). Estimates vary widely, but between 50,000 and 300,000 hectares are cleared every year to grow coca plants, the main ingredient in cocaine. Other illegal cash crops include marijuana and opium poppies. Attempts to stop farmers cultivating coca simply cause the producers to relocate. They move higher up the slopes and to the more remote, virgin forests of the Andes (aided by an increase in opium cultivation, which favors higher altitudes) and deeper into parks and the Amazon basin. Nearly two-thirds of the Colombian Andes, an area that is vital to the conservation of Colombia’s water supply, has been deforested as a result of both migration and drug cultivation.
Cocaine processors certainly couldn’t care less about following environmental regulations or about limiting their ecological footprint on the rainforest. Processing coca plants into cocaine is a hazardous job, requiring toxic chemicals including kerosene, sulfuric acid, acetone and carbide. These toxins are simply dumped on the ground or into delicate streams and rivers. In addition, armed guerrillas and drug runners operating in these forest areas have little