Narco-deforestation: new coca map destroys the Andean Amazon

Between 2018 and 2022, the Amazonian territories of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru lost more than one million hectares of forest, a significant part due to the expansion of illegal coca leaf crops. In Peru alone, 64% of deforestation is related to areas of expansion of this plant. In Colombia, these crops affect 49% of special management zones, and in Bolivia, they occupy 26% of protected natural areas. An analysis by OjoPúblico's Transboundary Investigative Network, with its partners La Silla Vacía (Colombia), Vistazo (Ecuador) and El Deber (Bolivia), identifies that, although coca is not the main cause of deforestation for now, the reconfiguration of criminal organizations is changing the drug map, expanding illegal coca leaf cultivation in the lowland jungle.

Aramís Castro