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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/coca-plantations/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on coca plantations</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/coca-plantations/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Peru&#8217;s modern history of migration and settlement</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/perus-modern-history-of-migration-and-settlement/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/perus-modern-history-of-migration-and-settlement/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Dec 2024 10:20:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/11154913/wayquecha-peru_220139-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291467</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cities, coca plantations, Corruption, Deforestation, Human Migration, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Migration, Mining, Palm Oil, Plantations, Population, Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Policies designed to occupy and populate the Peruvian Amazon began about seventy years ago with the construction of a trunk highway connecting Pucallpa on the Ucayali River with Lima. Named after a Peruvian historian, the construction of the Carretera Federico Basadre is a landmark event in the nation’s history, because it provided the first reliable [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Policies designed to occupy and populate the Peruvian Amazon began about seventy years ago with the construction of a trunk highway connecting Pucallpa on the Ucayali River with Lima. Named after a Peruvian historian, the construction of the Carretera Federico Basadre is a landmark event in the nation’s history, because it provided the first reliable means of communication between the capital and the Amazonian provinces that make up more than fifty per cent of Peru’s territory. The next major initiative began when the government added a northern spur through the montane forests of the Huallaga Valley, which was intended to integrate its northern Amazonian provinces while opening a lush tropical valley to agricultural development. Construction of these two highways was financed with state resources in the 1970s, when a left-wing military government had limited access to international finance. After a return to civilian government in the 1980s, multilateral institutions financed several project-based initiatives, but these were soon sidelined when the country entered a period of civil unrest that impeded economic growth and foreign investment. The economy improved in the 1990s following the end of the civil war, and the government, then led by Alberto Fujimori, initiated a series of system-wide investments in transportation infrastructure using public money leveraged with loans from the IDB. The system-wide approach was complemented in 2000 with the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA), which improved the strategic planning of highway investments in general, while promoting public-private partnerships (PPP) to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/perus-modern-history-of-migration-and-settlement/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291467</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Women in Putumayo turn to fish farming and away from the coca industry</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/women-in-putumayo-turn-to-fish-farming-and-away-from-the-coca-industry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/women-in-putumayo-turn-to-fish-farming-and-away-from-the-coca-industry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2024 21:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iñigo Alexander]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/08194939/DSC_5135-copia-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290868</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Women Defenders of the Colombian Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Aquaculture, Biodiversity, coca plantations, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Forest Loss, Freshwater Fish, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Politics, Sustainability, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[EL VENADO, Colombia — Until recently, the rolling green hills surrounding the tiny Colombian community of El Venado were covered with illegal coca plantations. Deep in the southern state of Putumayo and away from government oversight, Graciela Castillo, like many other locals, grew coca, a key ingredient in the production of cocaine. Putumayo&#8217;s economy has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[EL VENADO, Colombia — Until recently, the rolling green hills surrounding the tiny Colombian community of El Venado were covered with illegal coca plantations. Deep in the southern state of Putumayo and away from government oversight, Graciela Castillo, like many other locals, grew coca, a key ingredient in the production of cocaine. Putumayo&#8217;s economy has long been tethered to coca production, with the illicit drug trade providing a stable and reliable economic lifeline for rural communities. But this has also exposed them to armed groups, human rights abuses and instability. Seeking an alternative, Castillo and other local women have switched to fish farming, which allows them to make a living, distance themselves from violence and fight against gender stereotypes. &#8220;The conflict has been going on for many years and now it has become more visible,&#8221; says Castillo, whose brother was killed in 1995 as part of the wider conflict in Putumayo, while she and her family had to move. &#8220;People are no longer silent, they are speaking up, but before you had to watch and keep quiet, otherwise you would be killed or displaced,&#8221; she tells Mongabay. Pushed by necessity, Castillo eventually returned to Putumayo to work in the coca fields; but as she continued facing insecurity, she sought a different livelihood. She is now a member of the local fishing cooperative Asociación de Piscicultoras y Productoras Agropecuarias El Progreso, known by its acronym ASOPPAEP, a female-led collective established in 2013 that focuses on a legal, safer alternative to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/women-in-putumayo-turn-to-fish-farming-and-away-from-the-coca-industry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290868</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos confirm narcotraffickers operating in Peru’s Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/photos-confirm-narcotraffickers-operating-in-perus-kakataibo-indigenous-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/photos-confirm-narcotraffickers-operating-in-perus-kakataibo-indigenous-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 May 2024 11:27:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yvette Sierra Praeli]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/17112130/Reserva-Indigena-Kakataibo-Norte-15-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282211</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[coca plantations, Conservation, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Forests, Green, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Logging, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A wide strip of land cuts through the dense Amazon canopy in Peru’s Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve as shown by a photograph taken during a flyover on March 15, 2024. The images provide evidence of a clandestine landing strip in the middle of a protected area for tribes living in voluntary isolation. Established in 2021, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A wide strip of land cuts through the dense Amazon canopy in Peru’s Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve as shown by a photograph taken during a flyover on March 15, 2024. The images provide evidence of a clandestine landing strip in the middle of a protected area for tribes living in voluntary isolation. Established in 2021, the reserve is now “by far the most invaded Indigenous territory in the entire country,” according to Julio Cusurichi, a member of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP). The March flyover across the northern and southern sectors of the reserve also observed additional slashes through the thick rainforest, as well as large quantities of illicit coca crops, confirming that large-scale drug trafficking is occurring inside the reserve. A deforested area in the southern sector of the Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve. Image courtesy of AIDESEP. “It’s very concerning because this territory is for protecting our communities in isolation; at the same time, it’s terrifying to see that drug trafficking is unstoppable,” said an Indigenous leader with the Native Federation of Kakataibo Communities (FENACOKA), who participated in the flyover and is not being named for their safety. “The more we report, the more they accelerate and advance.” The flyover was organized by AIDESEP, together with Indigenous leaders from FENACOKA and representatives from Peru’s Ministry of Culture. The Kakataibo Indigenous Reserve was established in July 2021. Images of devastation The flyover took a closer look at 12 locations identified by satellite mapping in May 2023,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/photos-confirm-narcotraffickers-operating-in-perus-kakataibo-indigenous-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282211</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Etelvina Ramos: From coca farmer to opponent of the illegal crop</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/etelvina-ramos-from-coca-farmer-to-opponent-of-the-illegal-crop/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/etelvina-ramos-from-coca-farmer-to-opponent-of-the-illegal-crop/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Apr 2024 10:22:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Diana María Pachón]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/26100743/3-Etelvina-PORTADA-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281439</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Women Defenders of the Colombian Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, coca plantations, Conservation, Crime, Drug Trade, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Farming, Forests, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story is part of a Mongabay series on female environmental defenders in the Amazon. Read about the lives and work of Soraida Chindoy, Maydany Salcedo, and Alis Ramírez. It was when Etelvina Ramos Campo was four years old that she first became aware that she could die. In her nightmares, a boa surrounded her, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story is part of a Mongabay series on female environmental defenders in the Amazon. Read about the lives and work of Soraida Chindoy, Maydany Salcedo, and Alis Ramírez. It was when Etelvina Ramos Campo was four years old that she first became aware that she could die. In her nightmares, a boa surrounded her, broke her fragile bones and left her body at the mercy of other beasts. Almost half a century later, a snake is no longer the antagonist of her sleepless nights but the trigger of a gun held by those who want her dead. Etelvina Ramos arrived in the Amazon at four years old because her father, José Antonio Ramos, promised to earn an inheritance for her and her ten siblings in a new land: a place where water flowed abundantly and food was so fresh that it seemed to be still alive. In 1977, her family — her mother, father, and siblings — abandoned Santander de Quilichao, the second-largest city in Cauca Department, Colombia. After almost a full day on a bus, passing trails and towns that became smaller and smaller, they arrived in Puerto Caicedo, in Putumayo Department. It was at the end of the road and what seemed like the end of the populated world. There, the family seemed to step into another reality, into the Colombian Amazon, with hundred-year-old trees, marmosets, deer, armadillos, large rodents, parrots, tigers, snakes, and a forest so thick that Etelvina Ramos&#8217; father had to walk through it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/etelvina-ramos-from-coca-farmer-to-opponent-of-the-illegal-crop/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281439</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Maydany Salcedo: the environmental defender who catches the ire of armed groups</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maydany-salcedo-the-environmental-defender-who-catches-the-ire-of-armed-groups/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maydany-salcedo-the-environmental-defender-who-catches-the-ire-of-armed-groups/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2024 15:33:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maria Fernanda Lizcano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/28152641/4-Maydany-Salcedo-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280408</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Women Defenders of the Colombian Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[coca plantations, Conflict, Conservation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Violence, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story is part of a Mongabay series on female environmental defenders in the Amazon. Read about the lives and work of Soraida Chindoy, Alis Ramírez, and Etelvina Ramos. On April 10, 2023, at 11:30 a.m., four men arrived at Maydany Salcedo’s house. “I’m with the target and awaiting instructions,” was a phrase repeated several [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story is part of a Mongabay series on female environmental defenders in the Amazon. Read about the lives and work of Soraida Chindoy, Alis Ramírez, and Etelvina Ramos. On April 10, 2023, at 11:30 a.m., four men arrived at Maydany Salcedo’s house. “I’m with the target and awaiting instructions,” was a phrase repeated several times by one of the men on the phone with his boss, paralyzing Salcedo with fear. The man stood at the door of her house while the three others walked around inside, weapons in their hands. The men forced Salcedo to prepare food for them while they talked, prolonging her nightmare. The men presented themselves as members of Border Command (Comandos de Frontera), a residual organized armed group (GAOR) that emerged following the peace process in Colombia. It is made up of former guerillas and paramilitaries seeking control of drug trafficking, extortion, and illegal mining in the southwestern part of Colombia. This territory was controlled by the former Southern Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). “We hope you’ll stop what you’ve been doing–we know how many times your dog goes out to pee, we’ll finish off the smallest things in your life: your dog and two grandchildren,” they threatened her. She begged not to be killed in front of the children, but they did not intend to kill her. The men warned Salcedo that she could not return to Piamonte, a municipality in the Bota Caucana region, which borders the departments of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maydany-salcedo-the-environmental-defender-who-catches-the-ire-of-armed-groups/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280408</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Colombia’s coca economy crashes, new opportunities — and threats — arise</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/as-colombias-coca-economy-crashes-new-opportunities-and-threats-arise/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/as-colombias-coca-economy-crashes-new-opportunities-and-threats-arise/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Nov 2023 21:12:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mie Hoejris Dahl]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/02/12111615/colombia_0066z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275446</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, coca plantations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Farming, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Land Conflict, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ — In the world’s major cities, partygoers do lines of cocaine, far removed from the environmental and human costs of consuming this white powder. Most are likely unaware that in Colombia’s tropical forests, farmers have cleared large swaths of land to grow coca, the plant from which cocaine is produced. Tibú municipality, located in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ — In the world’s major cities, partygoers do lines of cocaine, far removed from the environmental and human costs of consuming this white powder. Most are likely unaware that in Colombia’s tropical forests, farmers have cleared large swaths of land to grow coca, the plant from which cocaine is produced. Tibú municipality, located in the Catatumbo region in northeastern Colombia, on the border with Venezuela, is the country’s top coca producer by area, with 22,000 hectares (54,400 acres) of land dedicated to cultivating the crop. Between 2001 and 2022, Tibú lost 111,000 hectares (274,000 acres) of tree cover, or the equivalent of about 150,000 soccer fields, due to a variety of factors. “We’re most of all a coca region,” says Edecio José Ramírez Pabón, a 70-year-old farmer from Tibú. Coca farming is the world’s largest illicit agribusiness, requiring vast amount of land. Colombia leads the world in coca production, accounting for about 60% percent of global supply. To keep up with demand, growers have continuously expanded their cultivated area, which in 2022 amounted to 230,000 hectares (568,000 acres), a 13% increase from the previous year. Cocaine production has been longtime driving deforestation in Colombia, but its indirect impact on the environment is much bigger. Image by Rhett A. Butler. But in Tibú, coca production — and with it, most of the local rural economy — largely ground to a halt since early last year, Ramírez Pabon tells Mongabay. That’s in response to coca prices dropping by more than 40%&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/as-colombias-coca-economy-crashes-new-opportunities-and-threats-arise/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275446</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Drug trafficking fuels other deforestation drivers in the Amazon: report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/drug-trafficking-fuels-other-deforestation-drivers-in-the-amazon-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/drug-trafficking-fuels-other-deforestation-drivers-in-the-amazon-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2023 17:33:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/14172641/FEATURE-18-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270952</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, Peru, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, coca plantations, Conservation, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mining, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon Rainforest is the largest in the world and a key player in regulating global water and carbon cycles. It also happens to be home to sophisticated criminal networks that make conservation efforts dangerous and complicated. Some of them target the rainforest specifically, trafficking timber and wildlife to far reaches of the planet. But [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon Rainforest is the largest in the world and a key player in regulating global water and carbon cycles. It also happens to be home to sophisticated criminal networks that make conservation efforts dangerous and complicated. Some of them target the rainforest specifically, trafficking timber and wildlife to far reaches of the planet. But others are more peripheral, like producing and trafficking drugs. The traditional thinking has been that drug cartels impact the rainforest through the cultivation of coca — like any other crop producer, they’re clearing trees to make room for an agricultural commodity. That thinking, however, has become more sophisticated over recent years, giving way to the idea that drug trafficking can trickle down into other harmful activities. Even this year’s global report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime made a point of focusing on the ways in which criminal activities that might have been previously overlooked have serious impacts on the environment. “The direct impact of coca cultivation on deforestation is minimal but indirectly it can act as a catalyst for deforestation,” the report said. It also suggests that, as some groups grow, they diversify into businesses that more directly rely on abusing natural resources. Mining in Amazonas, Brazil. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia) It’s true that, in order to have a successful cocaine trafficking business, part of the forest needs to be cleared to make room for the cultivation of coca, which can then give way to a secondary timber trafficking business and the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/drug-trafficking-fuels-other-deforestation-drivers-in-the-amazon-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/drug-trafficking-fuels-other-deforestation-drivers-in-the-amazon-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270952</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia, Ecuador announce alert system to protect Indigenous Awá from armed groups</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/colombia-ecuador-announce-alert-system-to-protect-indigenous-awa-from-armed-groups/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/colombia-ecuador-announce-alert-system-to-protect-indigenous-awa-from-armed-groups/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Mar 2023 17:34:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/10173312/new-feature-768x450.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266352</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, coca plantations, Crime, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Logging, Mining, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Colombia and Ecuador are implementing a new joint alert system along their shared border in an effort to increase protections for Indigenous communities suffering violent attacks from organized crime groups. The two countries announced a system designed to improve information-sharing and make alerts about risks of violence against residents who live near the border, many [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Colombia and Ecuador are implementing a new joint alert system along their shared border in an effort to increase protections for Indigenous communities suffering violent attacks from organized crime groups. The two countries announced a system designed to improve information-sharing and make alerts about risks of violence against residents who live near the border, many of whom are Awá Indigenous people. “We’re hoping to alert the Colombian and Ecuadorian state about this string of rights violations so they’ll take the necessary and urgent measures, and prevent the continuing violation of human rights happening on both sides of the border,” Ecuador Ombudsman César Córdova Valverde said at a press conference in Bogotá. There are around 29,000 Awá in the area, according to the Colombian Ombudsman office. Since last August, more than 10,000 of them have been forcibly displaced or suffered threats, intimidation, torture or forced recruitment, according to the Human Rights Observatory of the Awá People&#8217;s Indigenous Unit (Unipa). There were also 14 deaths. Deforestation in Putumayo during a military operation in November 2022. (Photo courtesy of Colombian Armed Forces) Organized crime has run rampant along the Colombian-Ecuador border for years, with a weak or non-existent government presence making it easy for guerrilla and drug trafficking groups to move back and forth across the border as they cultivate coca and mine gold illegally. The activities have contributed to what the UN called “physical and cultural extermination” of the Awá. Ombudsmen from both countries urged Colombia’s Ministry of the Interior and Ecuador’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/colombia-ecuador-announce-alert-system-to-protect-indigenous-awa-from-armed-groups/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/colombia-ecuador-announce-alert-system-to-protect-indigenous-awa-from-armed-groups/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-266352</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Delectable but destructive: Tracing chocolate’s environmental life cycle</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/delectable-but-destructive-tracing-chocolates-environmental-life-cycle/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/delectable-but-destructive-tracing-chocolates-environmental-life-cycle/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Aug 2022 15:52:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/01141327/banner-man-plucks-cocoa-e1764011739273-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258749</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Brazil, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Business, Cacao, coca plantations, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Finance, Food, Food Industry, Forests, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Soy, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chocolate is one of the world’s greatest little pleasures. But its primary ingredients — cocoa, palm oil and soy — all contribute to global deforestation. The industry is working now to make chocolate more sustainable.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chocolate is a treat beloved across the world. But how much do we know about our favorite guilty pleasure’s environmental impacts? A recent study, published in the journal Science Advances, sheds light on key ingredients that make their way into many chocolate products — often untraced, and possibly linked to deforestation in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The study found that high volumes of cocoa, palm oil and soy — key ingredients used in bulk to make some of our chocolate favorites — are currently traded with little to no traceability via indirect supply chains. A Maya ceramic depicting a container of frothed chocolate. Chocolate has been consumed at least since the Olmec civilization in Mesoamerica in the 19th-11th century BCE. Today it is humanity’s favorite treat. Image in the Public Domain found on Wikipedia. The research, led by Erasmus zu Ermgassen from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and TRASE, a data-driven transparency organization, found that traders purchasing these commodities via intermediaries account for “12 to 42% of soy sourcing, 15 to 90% of palm oil sourcing … and 100% of cocoa sourcing.” The use of such middlemen can easily conceal the environmentally harmful, deforestation-causing sources of these commodities. Each of these commodities is used to make chocolate products. Cocoa, of course, is an essential in all chocolate. Though alternatives to palm oil are increasingly used by some companies, it still appears in a vast number of products to add a smooth texture. Soy, meanwhile, is used in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/delectable-but-destructive-tracing-chocolates-environmental-life-cycle/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/delectable-but-destructive-tracing-chocolates-environmental-life-cycle/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258749</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s Amazon rainforest is threatened by an ecosystem of environment crime (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/perus-amazon-rainforest-is-threatened-by-an-ecosystem-of-environment-crime-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/perus-amazon-rainforest-is-threatened-by-an-ecosystem-of-environment-crime-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jul 2022 12:44:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolina AndradeRobert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/04033926/peru_aerial_0148-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257941</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[coca plantations, Commentary, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Logging, Mining, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From the Scarlet Macaw to the glass frog, Peru is a land of tropical splendors. At least half the country is blanketed by Amazon rainforest. It is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and home to an estimated 10 percent of the planet&#8217;s flora species. Lately, however, the Peruvian Amazon might be [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From the Scarlet Macaw to the glass frog, Peru is a land of tropical splendors. At least half the country is blanketed by Amazon rainforest. It is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and home to an estimated 10 percent of the planet&#8217;s flora species. Lately, however, the Peruvian Amazon might be better known as a habitat under siege, where a flourishing ecosystem of criminal groups is busy sacking the forest and rivers for cash and power. Environmental plunder in the Peruvian Amazon is as old as the New World, but the scale and breadth of the assault underway in its rainforests is unprecedented and one that Peru and its neighbors overlook at their own peril. That’s the takeaway of a new joint report based on a yearlong study by the investigative reporting portal InSight Crime and Igarapé Institute, a Brazil-based think tank. Drivers of deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon. Source: InSightCrime and Igarape Institute Deforestation rates reached all-time highs in 2020 and the country has lost an estimated 26,000 km2 over the past two decades. Part of the reason for this is that impunity for committing environmental crimes has sky-rocketed because the country is afflicted by chronic political crisis. The wider dangers of such neglect were made glaringly clear in early June when Brazilian indigenous rights advocate Bruno Araújo Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips were murdered while investigating a violent swath of the rainforest on the lawless Brazil &#8211; Peru border. Pereira and Phillips reportedly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/perus-amazon-rainforest-is-threatened-by-an-ecosystem-of-environment-crime-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/perus-amazon-rainforest-is-threatened-by-an-ecosystem-of-environment-crime-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257941</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>All coked up: The global environmental impacts of cocaine</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/all-coked-up-the-global-environmental-impacts-of-cocaine/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/all-coked-up-the-global-environmental-impacts-of-cocaine/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2022 20:01:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/04155048/coca-harvest-south-america-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=254451</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Consumed]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Central America, Colombia, European Union, Latin America, Peru, South America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, coca plantations, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Organized Crime, Plantations, Politics, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, trafficking, Tropical Forests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The planetwide cocaine supply chain — its production, trafficking and consumption — causes deforestation and pollution, and impacts biodiversity, as do other criminal activities associated with illegal drugs.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The environmental impacts of cocaine have long been known. Studies raised alarm bells in the 1990s over narco-driven deforestation, soil degradation and pollution in Latin America. Today, the impacts all along the illegal drug supply chain are even better understood and documented, but remain underrecognized and underreported. Meanwhile, the titanic struggle continues between those determined to curb illegal drug use and the shadowy forces intent on producing, trafficking and consuming the quintessential party drug snorted by millions, as they propel biodiversity loss, adverse land-use change, waterway contamination with toxic chemicals, and adjacent criminal industries such as wildlife trafficking and gold mining — even contributing to climate change. From source nations to consumer countries, the infamous white powder known as coke, or blow, is leaving a trail of environmental destruction that is contributing to the destabilization of Earth’s “safe operating space,” vital to keeping our planet habitable. An estimated 20 million people used cocaine in 2019. Image by Jernej Furman via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Chasing coca: By the numbers In 2019, an estimated 234,200 hectares (578,720 acres) of coca were grown in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. That was down 5% from the year before, but still resulted in major environmental impacts. Back in 1985, Peru was the global hub of coca production, growing around 65% of the global total, with Bolivia at 25% and Colombia just 10%. Years of aggressive anti-trafficking efforts in Peru and Bolivia forced the cultivation shift to Colombia — one of the world’s most “megadiverse” nations,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/all-coked-up-the-global-environmental-impacts-of-cocaine/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-254451</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil, coca and gangs close in on Colombia’s Indigenous Nukak Makú</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/palm-oil-coca-and-gangs-close-in-on-colombias-indigenous-nukak-maku/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/palm-oil-coca-and-gangs-close-in-on-colombias-indigenous-nukak-maku/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Dec 2020 05:45:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tatiana Pardo Ibarra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/12/10053931/Imagen2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237752</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, coca plantations, Conflict, Deforestation, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Palm Oil, Plantations, and Ranching]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A group of nomadic hunters who once lived deep in the Amazon is today on the brink of physical and cultural extinction. Though their tribal lands are designated as an Indigenous reservation, their forest was long the site of an armed conflict that plunged Colombia into a wave of violence for more than half a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A group of nomadic hunters who once lived deep in the Amazon is today on the brink of physical and cultural extinction. Though their tribal lands are designated as an Indigenous reservation, their forest was long the site of an armed conflict that plunged Colombia into a wave of violence for more than half a century. The relationship between the Nukak Makú people and the Colombian government officially began in 1988, after 43 Nukak left the Amazon in the nation’s southeast Guaviare department and turned up in the town of Calamar seeking medical help for a flu outbreak in their community. As their immune systems had never been compromised with this kind of ailment before, 40% of the population died during their first five years of contact with the outside world. Illegal palm cultivation in the Guaviare region. Image courtesy of the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS). The Nukak’s most challenging time came when a paramilitary group — the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), responsible for the massacres of Mapiripán (1997) and Caño Jabón (1998), among other human rights violations — invaded their territory, according to anthropologists Dany Mahecha and Carlos Eduardo Franky. The AUC began to dispute territorial control with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) over the Guaviare River’s middle basin, which is a historically coveted land. The Guaviare River is formed by the confluence of the Guayabero and Ariari rivers that run from the Andes; it flows through the Orinoquía ecosystem that makes&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/palm-oil-coca-and-gangs-close-in-on-colombias-indigenous-nukak-maku/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237752</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Technology innovations look to change the cacao landscape in Colombia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/technology-innovations-look-to-change-the-cacao-landscape-in-colombia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/technology-innovations-look-to-change-the-cacao-landscape-in-colombia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Nov 2020 11:18:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aurora Solá]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/10102242/amazon_202250-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236699</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cacao, coca plantations, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, Food, Forest Products, Forests, Rainforests, Solutions, Supply Chain, Tropical Forests, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As Colombia searches for a way forward after a half-century of war, the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) could have a significant role to play. Called the food of the gods, this squat tropical hardwood holds exceptional social and environmental promise in the intractable expanses of the country. For starters, cacao can grow at many of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As Colombia searches for a way forward after a half-century of war, the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) could have a significant role to play. Called the food of the gods, this squat tropical hardwood holds exceptional social and environmental promise in the intractable expanses of the country. For starters, cacao can grow at many of the same altitudes as coca, the proscribed plant from which cocaine is extracted. Cacao’s price per pound makes it an ideal substitute in the far reaches of Colombia where transportation costs make most other crops unviable. Unlike coca, which is harvested at the stem several times a year, cacao is a perennial tree that holds soil. Cacao is also a smallholder crop par excellence, with the most exquisite chocolate coming from meticulously managed polyculture systems under a tropical canopy. Today, Colombia has its eye on the premium markets that value such care and finesse: although ranked 10th among cacao-exporting nations by volume, 95% of the cacao it exports is classified as fine quality, and newly rediscovered varietals win international awards every year. Cacao pods grow on trees in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Untapped potential and emerging key resources But Colombia has yet to capitalize on most of cacao’s potential. Yields per hectare have hardly budged over the past few decades, to a large extent because cacao is a smallholder crop often grown in the hinterlands where education and extension services are hard to come by. Many cacao growers produce as little as 200&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/technology-innovations-look-to-change-the-cacao-landscape-in-colombia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236699</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Colombia, a protected park is buffeted by social, environmental conflicts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/in-colombia-a-protected-park-is-buffeted-by-social-environmental-conflicts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/in-colombia-a-protected-park-is-buffeted-by-social-environmental-conflicts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Aug 2020 10:58:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Antonio José Paz Cardona]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/08/07104719/DSCN1559-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=233516</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[coca plantations, COVID-19, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forest Products, Forests, Illegal Trade, Industry, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between the departments of Boyacá and Santander in Colombia is one of the last remnants of tropical rainforest of the Middle Magdalena Valley. The Serranía de Las Quinchas is so environmentally important that on Dec. 16, 2008, the environmental authority responsible for much of the area decided to declare it a regional natural park. Las [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between the departments of Boyacá and Santander in Colombia is one of the last remnants of tropical rainforest of the Middle Magdalena Valley. The Serranía de Las Quinchas is so environmentally important that on Dec. 16, 2008, the environmental authority responsible for much of the area decided to declare it a regional natural park. Las Quinchas is also an Important Area for Bird Conservation (AICA), a significant carbon sink and a biodiversity hotspot. According to data from monitoring agency Corpoboyacá, it is home to 22 species of mammals, four species of amphibians, 18 species of reptiles and 92 species of flora. It is also habitat for several bird species endemic to Colombia, including the blue-billed curassow (Crax alberti), which is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Others that are not endemic but are endangered, such as the military macaw (Ara militaris), in the vulnerable category, and the wattled guan (Aburria aburri), considered nearly threatened, also live there. Despite its diversity, this protected area continues to experience serious social and environmental conflicts. Before the creation of the park, people were living there. Many of their activities were banned overnight, but productive alternatives were not provided with the same sense of urgency. Moreover, Las Quinchas is intersected by oil and gas pipelines; there are still small areas of illicit crops; a battle is being waged against illegal logging; and the majority of campesinos (small-scale farmers) have not been able to gain titles to their land, which, by law, they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/in-colombia-a-protected-park-is-buffeted-by-social-environmental-conflicts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/in-colombia-a-protected-park-is-buffeted-by-social-environmental-conflicts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-233516</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rainforest Alliance Certification gets a 2020 upgrade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/rainforest-alliance-certification-gets-a-2020-upgrade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/rainforest-alliance-certification-gets-a-2020-upgrade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2020 19:19:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/07090914/costa_rica_siquirres_0900-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=232527</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cacao, Certification, Climate Change, coca plantations, Coffee, Conservation, Environment, Green, Human Rights, Marketing, Plantations, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[You may have noticed a little green frog on the chocolate, coffee or tea packages in your pantry. This tiny logo means a product has the Rainforest Alliance seal of approval for meeting the set of social and environmental standards required for certification. Now, those standards are getting an upgrade. Rainforest Alliance has announced new, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[You may have noticed a little green frog on the chocolate, coffee or tea packages in your pantry. This tiny logo means a product has the Rainforest Alliance seal of approval for meeting the set of social and environmental standards required for certification. Now, those standards are getting an upgrade. Rainforest Alliance has announced new, more robust criteria for certification. Companies that want to sport the frog logo must strengthen their commitments to society, economy and environment. The updated certification program provides new standards for farmers and companies in the areas of human rights, supply chains, livelihoods, deforestation and biodiversity, and provides new data systems and tools for management. The rollout of the new program begins this September and companies will be audited against the new standards beginning in July 2021. Developing the new criteria was a two-year process that drew upon public input from more than 1,000 people in nearly 50 countries. The process was led by Rainforest Alliance, an international nonprofit based in New York. Rainforest Alliance merged with the agricultural sustainability certification nonprofit UTZ in 2018. The Rainforest Alliance logo on chocolate bars. Photo by Ripple. “This ambitious and innovative certification program is part of the Rainforest Alliance’s strategy of collaboration with farmers, companies, implementing partners, and third-party auditors, as well as other NGOs, governments, and consumers,” Alex Morgan, chief markets officer at the Rainforest Alliance, said in a statement. “Only together can we restore the balance between people and nature and create a world where we thrive&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/rainforest-alliance-certification-gets-a-2020-upgrade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/rainforest-alliance-certification-gets-a-2020-upgrade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-232527</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Using satellites to alert an Amazonian indigenous community of coca encroachment (insider)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/using-satellites-to-alert-an-amazonian-indigenous-community-of-coca-encroachment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/using-satellites-to-alert-an-amazonian-indigenous-community-of-coca-encroachment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2020 12:29:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/04/13122914/coca_header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228696</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, coca plantations, Conservation, Deforestation, Drones, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In early March 2020, I visited the tri-border area of Peru, Colombia, and Brazil and used the opportunity to explore a cluster of potential deforestation hotspots detected by Global Forest Watch&#8217;s GLAD alert system. According to Global Forest Watch, the patches were small and dispersed. Therefore I expected to find small-scale clearing for subsistence or [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In early March 2020, I visited the tri-border area of Peru, Colombia, and Brazil and used the opportunity to explore a cluster of potential deforestation hotspots detected by Global Forest Watch&#8217;s GLAD alert system. According to Global Forest Watch, the patches were small and dispersed. Therefore I expected to find small-scale clearing for subsistence or local agriculture. But I was in for a bit of a surprise. Flooded forest in the Colombia-Peru border region in March 2020. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. River flowing through terra firme rainforest in Colombia in March 2020. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. March is the height of the rainy season in this part of the Amazon, meaning that the floodplain forests are inundated and one can boat through the lower parts of the rainforest canopy. Global Forest Watch&#8217;s GLAD alert system showed some change in forest cover in these floodplain forest areas, but a look at satellite imagery from Google Earth and Planet suggested that these were indicative changes in water levels and rivers&#8217; courses rather than actual forest loss. However, there appeared to be some potential deforestation among the GLAD alerts in upland forest areas known as terra firme forests. Unlike the floodplain forests, terra firme forests are not seasonally flooded. They are also typically characterized by larger trees and a richer assemblage of species. Forest cleared for coca in the Colombian Amazon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. I stayed at a site a couple of kilometers away from where the GLAD alerts&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/using-satellites-to-alert-an-amazonian-indigenous-community-of-coca-encroachment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/using-satellites-to-alert-an-amazonian-indigenous-community-of-coca-encroachment/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228696</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Settlers, soldiers and insurgents close in on Colombia’s indigenous Jiw</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/settlers-soldiers-and-insurgents-close-in-on-colombias-indigenous-jiw/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/settlers-soldiers-and-insurgents-close-in-on-colombias-indigenous-jiw/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2019 08:12:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maria Fernanda Lizcano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/09055658/13-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=223258</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, coca plantations, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Land Conflict, Rainforests, and Ranching]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.4, 4-18-182]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GUAVIARE, Colombia — In the north of the department of Guaviare, the Jiw say they feel trapped in their own lands. The 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) of the Barrancón resguardo, or reserve, are shrinking. Settlers have taken over the land, forest and waters, while the military has an army training battalion and a marine infantry [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GUAVIARE, Colombia — In the north of the department of Guaviare, the Jiw say they feel trapped in their own lands. The 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) of the Barrancón resguardo, or reserve, are shrinking. Settlers have taken over the land, forest and waters, while the military has an army training battalion and a marine infantry river battalion nearby. There is also the dormant presence of the First Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), one of the factions of the now-defunct separatist group that refuses to recognize a 2016 peace agreement signed with the government. “We are surrounded,” complains Bernardo*, a Barrancón resident. “Above, coming from San José del Guaviare, is the military base, which invaded our territory and has left various victims due to unexploded ordnances. The settlers are along the road to Charras, to the south of the resguardo, and on the banks of the Guaviare River. The Land Restitution Unit [URT] promised to give us those areas, but nothing has happened.” He repeats an eerie mantra: “They are disappearing us.” Colonization and armed conflict have snatched away the lands of the Jiw, who are nomadic by nature. Today they appear on a list of 34 indigenous communities that, according to the Constitutional Court of Colombia, are in danger of disappearing. The “Guayaberos,” as they were known, no longer regularly hunt or fish. The forests have been turned into pasture and the rivers are disputed with the settlers, or “white people,” as they call anyone who&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/settlers-soldiers-and-insurgents-close-in-on-colombias-indigenous-jiw/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/settlers-soldiers-and-insurgents-close-in-on-colombias-indigenous-jiw/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-223258</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As the Amazon burns, Colombia’s forests decimated for cattle and coca</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/as-the-amazon-burns-colombias-forests-decimated-for-cattle-and-coca/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/as-the-amazon-burns-colombias-forests-decimated-for-cattle-and-coca/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Sep 2019 12:12:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Antonio José Paz Cardona]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/09/26113048/DSC_0344-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222570</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, coca plantations, Deforestation, Forests, Illegal Logging, National Parks, Parks, Pasture, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.4]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The last few weeks have been critical for the Amazon in Brazil and Bolivia. Fires in August razed thousands of hectares of forest and drew the attention of the international community. Neighboring Colombia hasn’t been spared either. Although the fire season here usually occurs in January and February, there has been a surge in deforestation, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The last few weeks have been critical for the Amazon in Brazil and Bolivia. Fires in August razed thousands of hectares of forest and drew the attention of the international community. Neighboring Colombia hasn’t been spared either. Although the fire season here usually occurs in January and February, there has been a surge in deforestation, especially in the country’s northwestern Amazon region. Protected areas of vital importance to indigenous communities and the Andes-Amazon-Orinoquía ecological corridor have also been affected. Deforestation has strongly impacted national parks such as Sierra de la Macarena, Tinigua, Chiribiquete and Nukak, according to the latest report from the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), an initiative of the Amazon Conservation Association (ACCA) in collaboration with the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS) in Colombia. Colombia lost nearly 200,000 hectares (almost 500,000 acres) of forest in 2018, according to the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (known by its Spanish acronym IDEAM). And while that figure is down 10 percent from 2017, national parks are still in danger. The municipality of La Macarena, for example, registered the greatest surge in deforestation in the whole country (an increase of 26 percent), with almost half “occurring inside Tinigua park,” says Rodrigo Botero, director of the FCDS. A map showing deforestation inside protected areas, based on data from UMD/GLAD, Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, RUNAP, RAISG. Loss of primary forest The drop in deforestation in 2018 doesn’t mask the fact that 478,000 hectares (1.18 million acres) of forest were lost in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/as-the-amazon-burns-colombias-forests-decimated-for-cattle-and-coca/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/as-the-amazon-burns-colombias-forests-decimated-for-cattle-and-coca/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222570</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s crackdown on coca pushes illegal growers toward protected areas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/perus-crackdown-on-coca-pushes-illegal-growers-toward-protected-areas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/perus-crackdown-on-coca-pushes-illegal-growers-toward-protected-areas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2019 17:34:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vanessa Romo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/30170844/SanGaba%CC%81n2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=220864</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Peru and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[coca plantations, Community Forests, Deforestation, Forests, Illegal Logging, Land Conflict, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.4]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAN GABÁN, Peru — &#8220;We have to sit down and talk,&#8221; says Julián* as he shakes off his rain-soaked cape and looks for a dry spot among the scattered stones on the roadside. We have just arrived at Lechemayo, a town along the Interoceanic Highway in San Gabán district, in Peru’s southern Puno department. After [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAN GABÁN, Peru — &#8220;We have to sit down and talk,&#8221; says Julián* as he shakes off his rain-soaked cape and looks for a dry spot among the scattered stones on the roadside. We have just arrived at Lechemayo, a town along the Interoceanic Highway in San Gabán district, in Peru’s southern Puno department. After a heavy downpour, the sky opens up and lights up small hills, exposing around 5 hectares (12 acres) of illegal coca crops growing a few meters from the road. The crops extend beyond those hills. &#8220;I&#8217;m also impressed,&#8221; Julián says, guessing my amazement. He lives near Mazuco, in neighboring Madre de Dios department, and survives on temporary construction jobs. He had not visited Lechemayo in more than a year, and remembers those hills blanketed with pineapple fields, one of the main agricultural products of the Bajo Inambari, a valley along the lower stretch of the Inambari River. However, that scenario began to change dramatically during the past year, when illegal crops not only recovered ground they’d lost, but gained many more hectares. The replanting of coca has created an atmosphere of resistance in San Gabán, especially when a rumor began to spread: that the Corah Special Project, which oversees the strategy to eradicate illicit crops throughout Peru, would enter the area. This rumor was confirmed a few weeks after Mongabay visited the area. Corah built a camp for an eradication campaign of illegal crops, its fourth in 15 years. This operating base houses 600 workers,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/perus-crackdown-on-coca-pushes-illegal-growers-toward-protected-areas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/perus-crackdown-on-coca-pushes-illegal-growers-toward-protected-areas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-220864</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia gasoline fueling cocaine production</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/colombia-gasoline-fueling-cocaine-production/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/colombia-gasoline-fueling-cocaine-production/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jun 2019 16:34:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taran Volckhausen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/28162900/colombia_0066-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219786</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[coca plantations, Drug Trade, Forests, Natural Gas, Rainforests, Roads, Supply Chain, trafficking, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.4]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Colombian authorities have announced they will investigate 33 gas stations for allegedly selling an estimated 70 million gallons (265 million liters) of gasoline to cocaine producers in rural regions of the country where roads are scare or non-existent. As the amount of land used for cocaine production in Colombia continues to hit record highs, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Colombian authorities have announced they will investigate 33 gas stations for allegedly selling an estimated 70 million gallons (265 million liters) of gasoline to cocaine producers in rural regions of the country where roads are scare or non-existent. As the amount of land used for cocaine production in Colombia continues to hit record highs, the Attorney General’s Office has recommended stricter regulation of gasoline sales in the coca-growing regions. The town of Riosucio, in the western department of Chocó, reported 1.2 million gallons (4.5 million liters) of annual gasoline sales. The authorities say that quantity is roughly comparable to the busiest gas station in downtown Bogotá — even though Riosucio has a population of only 20,000 and lacks basic road infrastructure such as bridges. With only few roadways, portions of Riosucio municipality are inaccessible by car. Transportation is often carried out on motorized boats, known as lanchas, over river corridors. In the first five months of 2019, Global Forest Watch shows deforestation alerts in Riosucio, associated with an expanding agricultural frontier, stretching into the primary forests of the Darién Gap and Los Katíos National Park. Another gas station with suspiciously high sales was located in Tumaco, in Nariño department, the municipality with the largest area of coca cultivation. Authorities in Tumaco have also reported the theft of oil from the Trans-Andean Pipeline being funneled into cocaine production. The crudely refined oil is often spilled into aquifers, creating stress for threatened and endemic species in the exceptionally biodiverse rainforest. Near the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/colombia-gasoline-fueling-cocaine-production/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/colombia-gasoline-fueling-cocaine-production/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cocaine blamed for rising deforestation in Peru’s Bahuaja-Sonene National Park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/cocaine-blamed-for-rising-deforestation-in-perus-bahuaja-sonene-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/cocaine-blamed-for-rising-deforestation-in-perus-bahuaja-sonene-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2018 20:19:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vanessa Romo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/30201407/18-1200x800-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=214225</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, coca plantations, Coffee, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, National Parks, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[0.04617]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The burned forest and coca crops that have dominated the landscape along the road for the past two hours are gradually being transformed into coffee plantations. These are the last plantations left in San Lorenzo de Palmerani, which lies east of the Putina Punco district. Simón* is a coffee farmer who continues to bet on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The burned forest and coca crops that have dominated the landscape along the road for the past two hours are gradually being transformed into coffee plantations. These are the last plantations left in San Lorenzo de Palmerani, which lies east of the Putina Punco district. Simón* is a coffee farmer who continues to bet on a crop that grows in the middle of an ecological paradise – between the Peruvian Bahuaja-Sonene and Bolivian Madidi national parks – but is haunted by drug trafficking. This corner where Simón lives in the Puno jungle is one of the last bastions of legality left in the Sandia valley. To get to this district, a rugged terrain must be crossed where thin passes and crevasses are typical along the way to the jungle. The journey that supposed to take eight hours took much longer when there was no road. The reward, however, has always been high-quality coffee plantations that grow at more than 1,500 meters above sea level, where the climate is ideal for this crop. Coffee plantations have been retreating in the wake of an aggressive advance of coca crops. Image by Vanessa Romo/Mongabay Latam. Simón has just returned from the forest to check his crops. He notes that he is happy, as they are becoming fuller, which is how he usually refers to crops that grow at a good pace. There have been heavy rains since November and Simón prepares coffee to receive visitors. “We have learned to grind [the coffee beans]&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/cocaine-blamed-for-rising-deforestation-in-perus-bahuaja-sonene-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/cocaine-blamed-for-rising-deforestation-in-perus-bahuaja-sonene-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-214225</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bolivian coca crops follow a planned highway through indigenous lands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/bolivian-coca-crops-follow-a-planned-highway-through-indigenous-lands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/bolivian-coca-crops-follow-a-planned-highway-through-indigenous-lands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Oct 2018 12:45:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iván Paredes Tamayo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Willie Shubert]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/18154320/Captura-de-pantalla-2018-08-25-a-las-12.08.05-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211286</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[coca plantations, Conservation, Environment, Indigenous Reserves, and Infrastructure]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Matilde Noza says she has never chewed a coca leaf. Noza, an indigenous woman, lives in the Nueva Galilea community of the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory, better known by its Spanish acronym, TIPNIS. She respects the coca plant, she says, but it’s not part of the traditions of her community or others [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Matilde Noza says she has never chewed a coca leaf. Noza, an indigenous woman, lives in the Nueva Galilea community of the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory, better known by its Spanish acronym, TIPNIS. She respects the coca plant, she says, but it’s not part of the traditions of her community or others nearby, and she wants an end to its spread within the protected area. Farmers have for decades colonized the southern portion of the park, and today formally occupy about 1,240 square kilometers (480 square miles), much of it within a zone known as Polygon 7. The cultivation of coca, a key cash crop in Bolivia, is permitted within Polygon 7, but restricted to just 1,600 square meters (17,200 square feet) per farmer. However, on indigenous lands outside the colonized area of ​​the TIPNIS, coca production is not allowed. Yet despite this prohibition, coca production has increased throughout the park. Illegal coca cultivation on indigenous lands in the TIPNIS spanned 33 hectares (82 acres) in 2017, up 10 percent from a year earlier, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The report also found 1,109 hectares (2,740 acres) of coca crops inside Polygon 7 — nearly three times the 400 hectares (990 acres) reported by Felipe Cáceres, the deputy minister for social defense. Cáceres’s office had previously been tasked by President Evo Morales, a prominent supporter of coca growers, or cocaleros, to evict settlers living near the Isiboro River.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/bolivian-coca-crops-follow-a-planned-highway-through-indigenous-lands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/bolivian-coca-crops-follow-a-planned-highway-through-indigenous-lands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211286</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru: How chocolate saved a community and a protected area from the drug trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/peru-how-chocolate-saved-a-community-and-a-protected-area-from-the-drug-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/peru-how-chocolate-saved-a-community-and-a-protected-area-from-the-drug-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jul 2018 14:54:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vanessa Romo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/06144710/abiseo-5-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208112</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cacao, coca plantations, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Illegal Trade, National Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Redd, Solutions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Augusto Sangama confesses that, twenty years ago, his life was worth nothing. He believes others in the community of Huicungo in the San Martín region in northern Peru felt the same way, saying that if any of them had been killed, no one would have asked for explanations of their death. These were times when [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Augusto Sangama confesses that, twenty years ago, his life was worth nothing. He believes others in the community of Huicungo in the San Martín region in northern Peru felt the same way, saying that if any of them had been killed, no one would have asked for explanations of their death. These were times when cocaine paste was sold as if it were a kilo of sugar or rice, showing how high the demand was and leading to an increase in trafficking. Planes with drugs left daily from the Alto Huallaga Valley, where the community is located. Augusto recalls that the majority of local farmers were engaged in the illicit cultivation of coca crops, from which cocaine is produced. Now at 64, he observes the hundreds of cacao tree seedlings destined for the chocolate industry he has planted on land once used to grow coca, as well as the intact biodiversity of nearby Río Abiseo National Park, he can’t understand why he could not live like this before. &#8220;Where there was coca, there was money,&#8221; Sangama recalled, saying that no cacao producer forgets what happened in the 1980s and 90s after the drug cartels and the Shining Path guerrilla rebel organization had seized the region. &#8220;You could not make a mistake because if you did they beheaded you in front of everyone,&#8221; he said. Many share these memories with their children and grandchildren. &#8220;We must remember how much progress we have made,&#8221; said Sangama, who is now president of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/peru-how-chocolate-saved-a-community-and-a-protected-area-from-the-drug-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/peru-how-chocolate-saved-a-community-and-a-protected-area-from-the-drug-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208112</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Peru, coca puts one of the world’s best coffee crops at risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/in-peru-coca-crops-put-one-of-the-worlds-best-coffee-crops-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/in-peru-coca-crops-put-one-of-the-worlds-best-coffee-crops-at-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2018 11:34:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vanessa Romo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/18104734/Copia-de-IMG_8632-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207489</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[coca plantations, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Endangered Environmentalists, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, National Parks, Rainforests, Traditional People, trafficking, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUNO REGION, Peru – “Life isn’t tranquil here anymore. Not long ago, my neighbor came running, frightened. [She said] a group of drug traffickers came to her house, put a gun to her mouth, and told her: ‘If you keep complaining in the assemblies, you’re going to be as cold as he is.’” The “he” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PUNO REGION, Peru – “Life isn’t tranquil here anymore. Not long ago, my neighbor came running, frightened. [She said] a group of drug traffickers came to her house, put a gun to her mouth, and told her: ‘If you keep complaining in the assemblies, you’re going to be as cold as he is.’” The “he” is José Ccamapaza , a social and economic justice campesino leader from Colorado, a Peruvian village located next to Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. In December, he was found dead in his truck, a gunshot wound to his head. His death was seen by some as score-settling for his challenges to regional powers. Angelina*, who agreed to speak with Mongabay Latam without her name being revealed, remembers that Ccamapaza always spoke out about problems in the area. “Sometimes you just have to speak very softly if you want to keep living,” Angelina said, her whispers blending in with the sound of intense rain falling on her coffee plants in Putina Punco, in the mountainous rainforests of the Puno Region. From the two hectares where Angelina manages her coffee crops with her husband Moisés*, one can see the Bolivian rainforest, some of which is contained by Madidi National Park. The border between Peru and Bolivia is marked by the Tambopata River. Slightly closer, and within Peruvian territory, is Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. It’s a natural protected area of 1.1 million hectares (over 2.7 million acres) that covers the rainforests of the Puno Region and some of the forests of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/in-peru-coca-crops-put-one-of-the-worlds-best-coffee-crops-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/in-peru-coca-crops-put-one-of-the-worlds-best-coffee-crops-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207489</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil mounts ‘new offensive’ in Colombia while workers decry labor conditions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/palm-oil-mounts-new-offensive-in-colombia-while-workers-decry-labor-conditions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/palm-oil-mounts-new-offensive-in-colombia-while-workers-decry-labor-conditions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Oct 2017 17:36:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bram Ebus]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/10/27173235/IMG_53901-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=200544</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, coca plantations, Conflict, Deforestation, Development, Drug Trade, Environment, Forests, Habitat Loss, Industrial Agriculture, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MAGDALENA MEDIO, Colombia – It is a usual hot and humid day at one of the oil palm plantations in Magdalena Medio, Colombia. Beneath the two-story canopy of the plantation, Francisco Calderón* sweats while carrying a wobbly 12-meter (40-foot) iron pole he uses to slice the precious fruit free. The work is long and back-breakingly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MAGDALENA MEDIO, Colombia – It is a usual hot and humid day at one of the oil palm plantations in Magdalena Medio, Colombia. Beneath the two-story canopy of the plantation, Francisco Calderón* sweats while carrying a wobbly 12-meter (40-foot) iron pole he uses to slice the precious fruit free. The work is long and back-breakingly arduous. The sheer weight and length of the pole makes balancing it an art. Calderón tightens his muscles and once more steers the pole towards the palm fruit to show the practice that has been damaging his body for more than two decades. As most of the plantation workers affirm, almost nobody reaches their full pension age working the palm trees. They say the hard task of cutting and lifting clusters of palm fruit damages one’s shoulders and back and makes plantation work impossible past a certain age. Colombia produces more palm oil than any other country in Latin America, and is the fourth-largest producer worldwide after Indonesia, Malaysia (together the two countries produce around 83 percent of the global supply) and Thailand. According to federal census data, Colombia had nearly 466,000 hectares of oil palm planted in 2015 – but as much as 16 million hectares of land is regarded as suitable for cultivation. Calderón deftly uses a long pole to harvest fruit from an oil palm tree. Photo by Bram Ebus for Mongabay. Palm oil is produced from the fruit of the oil palm tree. Photo by Bram Ebus for Mongabay. Currently, most&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/palm-oil-mounts-new-offensive-in-colombia-while-workers-decry-labor-conditions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/palm-oil-mounts-new-offensive-in-colombia-while-workers-decry-labor-conditions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-200544</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The resistance of Peruvian coffee</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/the-resistance-of-peruvian-coffee/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/the-resistance-of-peruvian-coffee/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2017 02:40:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jack Lo Lau]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Romi Castagnino]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/29205642/cafe81-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=196208</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, coca plantations, Coffee, Deforestation, Environment, Farming, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PUNO, Peru &#8211; In November 2016, a bus traveling to the district of Putina Punco in southern Peru, deep in the forest and hours from the nearest city, was attacked by thugs with ski masks and long-range weapons. They stole cell phones and all the money that the passengers were going to spend in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PUNO, Peru &#8211; In November 2016, a bus traveling to the district of Putina Punco in southern Peru, deep in the forest and hours from the nearest city, was attacked by thugs with ski masks and long-range weapons. They stole cell phones and all the money that the passengers were going to spend in the traditional Sunday market. There were no deaths or injuries, but the attack left residents of the valley (who are unaccustomed to the sound of gunfire) alarmed. Typically, this part of the country is known for selling citrus and producing some of the best coffee in the world. But things are changing in the southern Peruvian Amazon. *** Seventy-year-old coffee grower Teodoro Calle is just over 5 feet tall and his arms and legs look like they are made of solid rock. He goes up and down the mountains like a 20-year-old boy. He pulls a nearly 90-pound coffee trolley through mud and stones with the same ease as a lady pushing a cart at the supermarket. He has lived in the Sandia Valley since he was 13 years old. He finished school when he was 30 and received his law degree when he was 70. He is an example of perseverance. Calle remembers when they founded the Coffee Cooperative San Juan del Oro and then created the Central Agricultural Cooperative of the Valleys of Sandia (CECOVASA) back in the 1960s, to collect and commercialize their coffee without intermediaries. He never imagined that, in the last&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/the-resistance-of-peruvian-coffee/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-196208</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rebel road expansion brings deforestation to remote Colombian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/rebel-road-expansion-brings-deforestation-to-remote-colombian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/rebel-road-expansion-brings-deforestation-to-remote-colombian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 May 2017 12:22:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taran Volckhausen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/19111213/equipment-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=195879</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle, coca plantations, Community Development, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Pasture, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Ranching, Roads, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MIRAFLORES, Colombia – “We can’t move like we used to,” said Joaquin Dajada, a twenty-something displaced member of the Nukak indigenous community, the last contacted nomadic group in Colombia. “The colonists won’t let us on their land to hunt or fish. We don’t have enough to eat.” Anthropologists believe the Nukak community is facing extinction. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MIRAFLORES, Colombia – “We can’t move like we used to,” said Joaquin Dajada, a twenty-something displaced member of the Nukak indigenous community, the last contacted nomadic group in Colombia. “The colonists won’t let us on their land to hunt or fish. We don’t have enough to eat.” Anthropologists believe the Nukak community is facing extinction. In addition to diseases introduced by settlers, Dajada explains that the community is threatened by the loss of their “sacred territories” where they used to hunt and fish. Road construction in the region also worries Dajada, who says that building more roads will bring “more invaders looking for land to knock down more forests… it’s the colonists&#8217; fault we are here&#8230; they have left us nothing.” Anthropologists estimate the Nukak originally numbered around 2,000. But by 2012, they had declined to less than 600. Photo by Taran Volckhausen for Mongabay Members of the nomadic Nukak first emerged from the jungle in 1988, claiming they were chased off their land by encroaching colonists and armed groups. They arrived in Calamar, which is the last stop on a paved road that pushes southeast to the Colombian Amazon department of Guaviare. However, cutting 138 kilometers deeper into the thick, virgin rainforest from Calamar, there is another unofficial road. This road connects Miraflores, a poverty-stricken rural municipality of around 10,000 settlers and indigenous peoples, to the rest of the country. Road vs. rainforest Encouraged by the Colombian peace process promising infrastructure advancement across the country, local citizens and municipal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/rebel-road-expansion-brings-deforestation-to-remote-colombian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-195879</doi>				</item>
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