The preliminary results of an international investigation warn about the environmental impact of drug activity in Central America. According to the director of the School of Geography of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), Isabella Avendaño, we are facing a greater threat than we perceive.
The study, conducted by public entities in Costa Rica, the United States and the Neo-tropic Foundation, aims to generate knowledge about the behavior of drug traffickers and how their activities impact the environment.
We have a Central America that barely corresponds to 2% of the world’s territory, but it houses 12% of the biodiversity and 40% is covered by forest (…) If the coverage is 40% there is a great pressure for those spaces to produce the drug and transport it,”
said Avendaño.
Construction of airstrips and other infrastructure for trafficking create what researchers call “drug deforestation.” All these cases have been registered throughout the region. But this phenomenon is also seen in Guatemala, where the income produced by drug trafficking is invested in the purchase of livestock, which also requires cutting the forest for its development.
The effects of deforestation and pollution caused by the cartels affect mainly indigenous and remote populations. Avendaño indicated that her task is and will be to work with these communities to advance the investigation.