Colombia: Swap debt for nature

Colombia will focus on combating heavy deforestation, tighten controls on the livestock and meat industries, and propose the cancellation of foreign debt in exchange for the restoration of nature.

It was announced by the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad, on Friday, August 12. Deforestation in the jungles and forests of the South American country, among the most biodiverse in the world, increased by 1.5% in 2021 to 174,103 hectares, of which 112,899 hectares were in the Colombian Amazon.

“The first challenge is to stop deforestation and to do so in the regions where peace agreements have been reached,” Muhamad said at an economic congress in the Caribbean city of Cartagena.

Deforestation increased after the demobilization of former FARC guerrillas in 2016. Thousands of fighters have been withdrawn from regions used by criminal gangs to take control of large areas in the mountains and jungle.

Another challenge for the government will be to monitor the meat industry. “A gigantic goal is to trace livestock and meat, livestock and the meat industry,” Muhamad stressed. “Today, 80% of meat is untraceable, and we should commit as a society to ensure that there are no products on the market or in large supermarkets that come from deforested areas,” she added.

The minister also announced that she would call for the cancellation of Colombia’s foreign debt in exchange for the restoration of forests and jungles, a proposal made by President Gustavo Petro on Sunday during his inauguration.

“At the international level, together with President Gustavo Petro, we are seeking a cancellation of the foreign debt in exchange for nature because, in the country’s fiscal accounts and the national budget, we are putting a lot of money into paying off the foreign debt, and as we know, we are in a tight fiscal situation. It is a work for humanity, and humanity must realize that if we do this work well, we have the capacity to do it. I think exchanging debt for nature is a good formula for environmental justice,” she concluded.

With information from Latina Press