“The problem is the economic monopoly. The big trusts and political families that run the country have their eyes on these vacant lots of the nation that are in the Second Law.”
“There are major deforesters, large environmental predators, who have come from the interior of the country and have bought lands in the jungle and have built huge areas of farms.”
“That is a problem that we have here in Guaviare, the peasants are told that we are the deforesters. On the contrary, the one who has money is the one who deforests; we are not capable of cutting down 100 hectares to use them for pasture.”
For years, perhaps decades, Colombian governments blamed drug trafficking for deforestation. For presidents, defense ministers, and high military commanders, the overwhelming forest loss was due to the increase in coca crops.
This discourse has consequences when facing the fight against deforestation because, if the focus is given on just one of its links, it creates the idea that the end of drug trafficking will also be the end of deforestation, and therefore, more complex processes are left out, such as land grabbing, which involves illegal and legal actors (companies, landowners, politicians, officials, etc.).
On the other hand, it is also thought that deforestation has the ultimate goal of cutting down trees without wondering what happens to the deforested land, and therein lies the cornerstone of the situation. Of course, a purpose of deforestation can be selling illegal wood or planting coca leaf crops, but ultimately, the felling and burning of hundreds of hectares of forest in the Amazon is done to illegally appropriate the nation's vacant lots and offer them in the land market.
Rodrigo Botero, director of the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS), explains that in recent years, fortunately, this idea has begun to change due to investigations that point to illegal land grabbing as the main reason for deforestation. Botero says that "the evidence is so strong that IDEAM (Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies) itself identifies the appropriation of vacant lots as the most important factor in the loss of forest in the Amazon."
The Umbrella of Appropriation
One could say that the illegal appropriation of vacant lots is an umbrella that covers the other causes of deforestation. Forests are burned and cut down to open roads, sow pastures, produce extensive livestock or illicit crops, create large farms... Ultimately, they are burned and felled to privatize wastelands and expand the agricultural frontier.
There is still no clear explanation about how everything surrounding the appropriation of vacant lots works, as it is just now that its scope is being known, and it was only until last year that it was classified as a crime. It is difficult to know who finances it, how it operates, and what the ties with national institutions are. However, illegal appropriation and land grabbing in the Amazon work in an equivalent way to how it has happened in other parts of the country. In the case of this region, it is known that the appropriation of vacant lots is the main cause of the deforestation increase.
This phenomenon, which increased after the signing of the peace agreement with the FARC, threatens to destroy the Amazonian foothills and expand to the rest of the Colombian Amazon. The hoarders want to own the forest reserve areas, natural parks, and indigenous reservations, which since 2018 have registered a growth in deforestation.
Between April 2021 and March 2022, 113,572 hectares of forest were lost in the Amazon arc, almost four times the urban area of Bogotá! Of these, 39% belong to forest reserve areas (Law 2 of 1959) and 14% to natural parks, according to data from the FCDS. The Tinigua National Park and the Llanos de Yarí-Yaguará II indigenous reservation are the most affected.
The illegal appropriation and hoarding of land are fueled by the social crisis caused by the forced displacement of thousands of families towards the Amazon arc and the lack of a policy that resolves the country's historical agrarian problems.
Photo: Santiago Ramírez.
Impoverished peasants, settlers, and indigenous people who seek to improve their living conditions are the main workforce used to cut down trees and burn hundreds of hectares.
Photo: Santiago Ramírez.
In addition to natural reserve areas, natural parks and indigenous reservations are the most affected territories by illegal appropriation.
Photo: Santiago Ramírez.
The appropriation begins when they burn hectares of forest. It usually happens in the dry season months, between December and March. In the period from April 2021 to March 2022, 16,675 fires were registered. The most affected sites were the Yarí savannahs and the Chiribiquete and Tinigua natural parks.
Photo: Nicolás Acevedo Ortíz.
Open lots are made in places with some type of access, either by river or by road. The reason: cattle, seeds, and other inputs are needed to enter through these routes to have productive land.
Photo: Nicolás Acevedo Ortíz.
Like falling dominoes, one deforested lot is followed by another and another.
Photo: Nicolás Acevedo Ortíz.
After deforestation, the planting of pastures for extensive livestock begins. This process is called "praderización". Agro-industrial crops such as palms are also promoted.
Photo: Nicolás Acevedo Ortíz.
Over time, the small or medium-sized deforested areas are bought by landowners or foreign investors, according to several residents of Guaviare and Caquetá.
Photo: Daniel Ramírez.
The main victims of the illegal hoarding and appropriation of lands are the indigenous cultures that have to bear the arrival of foreigners strange to their customs and a reduction of their territories.
Photo: Santiago Ramírez.
The appropriation of land in indigenous reservations affects the communal life of its members. In the medium and short term, it causes the forced displacement of thousands of them.
Photo: Santiago Ramírez.
Sabanas de La Fuga. San Jose Del Guaviare, Guaviare.
The illegal appropriation of land in the Amazon increased after the peace agreement with the FARC, as their departure from these territories and the absence of the State created the opportunity for illegal groups and investors to take over land without any restrictions.
With deforestation comes economic land speculation. Inhabitants of Caquetá and Guaviare report that, in some villages, the price of lots has increased by more than 200%.
Appropriation: enemy of natural parks and indigenous reservations
Although the indiscriminate felling of trees and burning of hundreds of hectares of forest is related to illicit crops, recent studies and journalistic investigations reveal that those who are destroying the Amazon, are doing it to appropriate its land and expand the agricultural frontier.
Hoarding occurs mainly on forest reserve lands (Law 2 of 1959), where 39% of deforestation occurred in the Amazon arc between April 2018 and March 2022. In total, 43,904 hectares of forest were lost. Moreover, deforestation is also affecting national parks and indigenous reservations, places with invaluable environmental and cultural wealth where ancestral indigenous groups live.
Accumulated deforestation in natural parks and indigenous reservations 2010 - March 2022
2010 - 2012
2012 - 2013
2013 - 2014
2014 - 2015
2015 - 2016
2016 - 2017
2017 - 2018
2018 - 2019
2019 - 2020
2020 - 2021
Sep. 2021 - Mar. 2022
National Natural Parks
Cordillera de los Picachos
It covers part of the municipalities of La Uribe (Meta) and San Vicente del Caguan (Caquetá). It is where the transition from the Andean to the Amazonian ecosystem takes place, one of the few that exists in the country. Until 2020, deforestation almost did not exist, but as of 2021, the first open lots were detected, which are 286 hectares in total.
Tinigua
Located between La Uribe and La Macarena, it is the most affected park by deforestation. There, the second largest open lot in the Amazon region, made between April 2021 and March 2022, was detected; its area is 352 hectares. Between April 2018 and March 2022, the accumulated forest loss exceeded 25,000 hectares.
Sierra de la Macarena
Between April 2021 and March 2022, 4,062 hectares were deforested and in the last four years, more than 12,000 hectares of forest have been lost. Deforestation drives the so-called 'Cattle Trail' (or 'trocha ganadera' in Spanish) that connects the urban centers of La Macarena and Vistahermosa.
Serranía de Chiribiquete
Deforestation surrounds this park. Between April 2021 and March 2022, 1,626 open lots of deforestation were detected, totaling more than 17,000 hectares.
La Paya
In this natural park, located in Putumayo, evidence of deforestation associated with the expansion of coca crops is beginning to appear. Between April 2021 and March 2022, 236 hectares were deforested.
Indigenous Reservations
Llanos del Yarí-Yaguará II Reservation
In the Amazon arc, there are 55 indigenous reservations and in their territories, 9,120 hectares were deforested, between April 2021 and March 2022. The most affected one is Llanos del Yarí-Yaguará II, which concentrated 60% of that number. In this period, deforestation tripled, going from about 1,900 hectares between April 2018 and March 2019 to more than 5,500 hectares.
Nukak Maku Reservation
This territory has lost almost 1,800 hectares of forest, which corresponds to 20% of the deforested area in the reservations of the Amazon arc. In the last four years, accumulated deforestation reached 8,391 hectares.
Fire in Calamar, Guaviare.
Part of the money from illegal businesses such as coca and gold mining in the Amazon rivers ends up financing the illegal appropriation of lands, which are also bought by hoarders.
In many cases, the lots that were deforested to plant coca are later planted with pastures and enter the illegal land market.
The illegal appropriation of land is a recent crime in the country, created by Law 2111 of 2021. The punishment for anyone who usurps, occupies, uses, accumulates, tolerates, collaborates, or allows the appropriation of the nation's vacant land goes from 5 to 12 years in prison.
The appropriation game
Land hoarding has been a constant phenomenon in the country, and also a cause of violence. Nevertheless, only now people are beginning to understand the deep relationship between this event and deforestation.
Hoarders / Appropriators
These are individuals, groups, families or clans that group together to begin the appropriation process. Some are part of the regional political and economic elites and others are investors from other regions of the country or foreigners. Alliances may be established between the two. The appropriators are the ones who provide the capital for the deforestation of large extensions of land in the Amazon.
Peasants
A Fundamental piece in the dynamics of land appropriation. Due to poverty and lack of opportunities for the population of the Colombian Amazon, the hoarders pay peasants to deforest.
Settlers
Expelled from other parts of the country, dozens of settlers arrive in the Amazon daily looking for territory and economic opportunities. Hoarders take advantage of this social drama to promote waves of colonization or to provide the means for spontaneous settlers to invade vacant lots.
Indigenous people
They are the losers in this game since the lands of their reservations are the target of the appropriators. For example, according to the FCDS, deforestation in the Llanos de Yarí-Yaguará II reservation almost doubled, going from about 2,800 hectares, between April 2020 and March 2021, to more than 5,500 between April 2021 and March 2022.
Local and national officials
Corruption plays a significant role. Officials belonging to the institutions that manage land issues of the regional and national order are in charge of facilitating the appropriation. On the one hand, they prevent the investigations against the hoarders from reaching a successful conclusion, and on the other hand, they collaborate in the claims to legalize the illegally acquired lands.
Legislators and public policymakers
Even though it cannot be affirmed that these actors are corrupt or allies of the hoarders, many of their actions in Congress or national agrarian entities end or seek to benefit them. For example, draft laws have been introduced in Congress several times to remove the prohibition on a single person purchasing multiple family farm units.
The objective of the appropriation game
To appropriate substantial amounts of land in forest reserve areas (Law 2 of 1959), natural parks and indigenous reservations. In the end, the hoarder can be considered a winner if he manages to turn these illegal occupations legal. Another achievement of this game is that the hoarders' land increases its value.
First step
In order to invade them, the hoarders identify the vacant territories or those with some type of State protection. Some officials help them by informing them where the State is going to make an investment that can increase the value of the land.
Second step
The hoarders pay local peasants to cut down large trees with chainsaws in hand and then set fires. They also promote migratory waves of settlers to do that job.
According to their testimonies, the inhabitants of Caquetá and Guaviare have seen trucks with 200 or more chainsaws that are distributed to those that are hired. The daily wage can be between 100,000 and 200,000 pesos.
Third step
The mass planting of pasture begins. Deforested land is suitable for pasture and other crops. In general, settlers and peasants are allowed to live and own these lands to carry out agricultural and livestock activities.
Fourth step
The lands enter an illegal market. The peasants or settlers sell their land (authentically or falsely) to hoarders at exceptionally low prices. In most cases, these transactions do not have a legal basis.
At this moment, the regional officials play a key role, as they are in charge of providing legality to all these commercial transactions. Land speculation increases its cost exponentially. The hoarders also forcibly expropriate peasants and settlers who arrived on their own.
Fifth step
With the help of national officials, an attempt to demonstrate that these lands have a long-standing tradition of economic exploitation is made and that, therefore, they should be removed from areas protected by law. At this stage, officials prevent authorities from stopping these hoarding processes.
El Retorno, Guaviare.
A good amount of the deforested and illegally appropriated lands is used for livestock and agro-industrial crops. Due to the nature of the business, hoarders need to accumulate more and more land. In this way, huge farms or large areas of crops are formed. At this stage, the actions are aimed at legalizing the appropriation or maintaining a legal limbo until they can be titled over time. Meanwhile, the land begins to produce or pass from hand to hand within the market.