COLOMBIA: DEFORESTATION, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS

In Chapter 4 we examined global inequality, its many forms, and the ways that social scientists measure that inequality. We also examined how globalization—the growing interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and populations—impacts inequality. The conflict in Colombia was one case study as we made connections between the country’s conflict and longstanding, profound internal disparities. Let’s examine Colombia some more to understand how global systems can play a role in inequality over time.

Despite the peace accords and efforts to bring security and stability to the country, leaders in Colombia’s environmental movement are being killed at an unprecedented and increasing rate. In 2020, 65 environmental leaders were killed, the most recorded in any country that year (Kryt 2021). In 2024, Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists and activists for the second year in a row, with 79 killings (Global Witness 2024).

Armed groups still exist in Colombia that earn a living through drug trafficking and collaborating with extraction, ranching, and large crop companies. Often they operate in remote regions, including the Colombian Amazon. The armed groups are hired to guard projects or make conditions too threatening for local people to remain in the region. Members of the corporations and armed actors partner with some politicians who receive kickbacks for their support of the project (Kryt 2021).

At least 424,000 acres of forest were cleared in Colombia in 2020 (Noriega 2022). An increase in illegal deforestation was documented after the peace accords began. This is attributed in great part to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’s (FARC’s) departure from remote regions. This left large tracts of forests accessible where the FARC had previously maintained strict control over land use.

Federal changes since President Gustavo Petro was elected in 2022 have helped reduce illegal deforestation. New policies focus on the environment, peace, and support to rural areas to bring better quality of life for people so they don’t turn to projects involved with illegal extraction or land grabs. The government is also making forest conservation a central topic in negotiations with armed groups (Weisse and Mikaela et al. 2024). While, preliminary data and satellite imagery indicate less forest loss in 2023 (Global Forest Watch n.d.) the long trend shows there’s been a 38 percent increase in illegal deforestation since the peace deal was signed (Noriega 2022). Listen to the 5:29-minute podcast episode “In the Colombian Amazon, Peace Has Environmental Consequences” [Website], which tells the story in more detail (figure 5.1).

Beyond Colombia, threats against land and environmental defenders are a global concern. In 2022, environmental defenders were killed worldwide at a rate of one every other day (Global Witness 2023). Indigenous communities are disproportionately killed. They represent about 5 percent of the world’s population but make up 34 percent of all murders.

Examining Colombia’s current state as a snapshot, how can we best examine the global social systems that have allowed for land grabs and multinational corporation control? How can we best examine the global social systems that continue to allow for illegal destruction of the Amazon and the accompanying human rights abuses of eco-activists?

Colombia’s Colonial Roots

A crucial place to begin is by looking into Colombia’s history. Land has been acquired and ownership concentrated through violent means in the region for centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Colombia was a colony of Spain, which involved the exploitation and removal of the Indigenous and peasant populations to remote regions of the country (Gillin 2015). During this same era, some enslaved people of African descent escaped and set up remote settlements, especially along the rain-sodden Pacific coast in what many consider the most rugged, dense jungle in the country. Authors Gonzales and Vasquez add that during this colonial era, people were displaced “to ‘peripheral areas of the country,’ areas of the country from which much of the insurgency has its roots” (Gillin 2015).

Then, after independence from Spain, Colombia was immediately controlled by export companies extracting resources (Fajardo Montaña 2014). To many scholars, this distribution of land and control over territories became the model of power relations in Colombian society. Today, as we notice the global spike in violence and illegal deforestation in the country, it’s evident that this history, climate breakdown, and oppression are connected (Kryt 2021).

Colombia’s Resources and International Aid

Another situation to consider when examining Colombia’s conflict and inequality is that for decades, Colombia has been the recipient of significant military and international aid. Millions of dollars of humanitarian aid and significant human action has been delivered to Colombia from other nations. Many of these contributions have helped Colombia find its way to peace, reduce inequality, and improve well-being in the country. However, other aid projects are more controversial.

One very influential and controversial aid initiative was Plan Colombia. It was an aid package and agreement that lasted between 2000 and 2015, delivering $10 billion to the Colombian government to end the armed conflict and drug trafficking in the country. This prompted Colombia to become one of the top recipients of U.S. military and police assistance in the world.

The programs and funds were distributed in great part via the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID is an agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign assistance, humanitarian aid, and development and development assistance. Funds were allotted to increase funding and training of Colombian military and paramilitary forces and to eradicate coca cultivation, a major source of funding for both the FARC and paramilitary groups.

However, the effects of Plan Colombia are very controversial. Villagers suffered from the aerial poisoning of their subsistence crops and animals as large territories were blanketed with fumigation (figure 5.2). Numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) cite human rights violations linked to war campaigns that Plan Colombia supported.

Critics of Plan Colombia argue that the main intent of the program was not drug eradication and an end to armed conflict but an elimination of the left-wing FARC insurgency that was hindering the exploitation of Colombia’s valuable resources, including oil. They claim that the campaigns that Plan Colombia supported also targeted poor farmers and rural Colombian activists calling for social reform (Stokes 2005; Cuellar 2005).

Professor Noam Chomsky outlined these concerns in 2000 in his book, Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs:

Each year, some 300,000 new refugees are driven from their homes, with a death toll of about 3,000 and many horrible massacres. The great majority of atrocities are attributed to paramilitary forces. These are closely linked to the military, as documented in considerable and shocking detail …by Human Rights Watch, and (the) UN which reported that the Colombian security forces …maintain an intimate relationship with death squads, organize paramilitary forces, and either participate in their massacres directly or, by failing to take action, have “undoubtedly enabled the paramilitary groups to achieve their exterminating objectives” (Chomsky 2000:82).

Alongside its roots of colonization, Colombia’s involvement in the globalized trade, financial, and military system has led to a mixed experience with equality and the health of its environment. While Colombia is a sound example of the challenges of these systems to society and human well-being, similar issues repeat throughout the globe.

In this chapter, we’ll take a deeper look at the roots of global inequality. We’ll first identify the colonized perspective and actions that have created the inequities between nations and within nations we explored in Chapter 4. We’ll then examine two related social changes that impact global inequality: the globalization of the trade and financial sector and the foreign assistance, humanitarian aid, and development movements. We’ll identify some mixed impacts of international interventions in these fields, and explore the movements and emerging possibilities that exist to address our global inequality issues. This chapter will encourage you to ask questions about how our relationships across global systems influence inequality.

• What ideologies do we hold that shape patterns of inequality in the world?
• How fair and helpful are our systems designed to support other countries?
• In what ways can we improve our international systems of support so they better address global inequality?

Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Story

Open Content, Original

“Chapter Story” by Aimee Samara Krouskop is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Open Content, Shared Previously

Figure 5.1. “Amazon Jungle Tour – Day 2” is on Flickr by Eli Duke and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 (left).

Figure 5.2. “La Única Flor que no Fue Fumigada” is on Flickr by Agencia Prensa Rural, and licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 (left). A woman tends her chicken farm in San Nicolas, Colombia is on Flickr by Charlotte Kesl and World Bank Photo Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 (right).

All Rights Reserved Content

Figure 5.1. Screenshot from the hosting page of, and “In the Colombian Amazon, Peace Has Environmental Consequences” by Gena Steffens, by The World Public Radio Program, is included under fair use (right).