![]() ![]() "I was able to cut down a hectare a day," he told AFP.Īn aerial view offers a devastating panorama of the destruction in Guaviare: ever-expanding patches of freshly-cleared land, crops, pastures and cow herds amid shrinking tree cover. One local told AFP he himself deforested about 200 hectares before giving up for fear of arrest. Ironically, the 2016 peace pact that ended near six decades of civil war in Colombia has boded ill for the Amazon.Īs FARC rebels disarmed and left the forest cover, land grabbers moved into areas that were once no-go zones, chopping down trees and farming in this protected area famous for its unique biodiversity.Īccording to government data, 925,000 hectares of Colombian forest have been destroyed since 2016, an area about the size of Cyprus.Īs the guerillas left, land thieves moved in with hired men armed with chainsaws and machetes, carving out large expanses of land for themselves and erecting fences with the wood of the felled trees. "If not, we find ourselves without food." ![]()
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