Colombia: How Organized Crime Profits from Deforestation in Colombia

Jan 7, 2019 | Bjorn Kjelstad and Felipe Puerta, InSight Crime
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Two years after the signing of a peace deal between the Colombian government and the FARC, Colombia’s forests are under siege and experiencing heightened levels of deforestation promoted by various criminal actors looking to expand their illicit revenue streams. The alarming levels of deforestation, with over 200,000 hectares lost in 2017  — a 23 percent increase from 2016 – have raised the alarm bells of authorities who recently announced the creation of a new specialized team of national prosecutors who will investigate crimes like land grabbing, wood trafficking, illegal mining and drug trafficking in the Amazon region, all of which have led to increased deforestation.