Road to ruin: informal byways sow seeds of destruction in Colombia’s Amazon
The dirt tracks winding through southern Colombia’s tangled jungle often mark the beginning of the end for besieged patches of rainforest in this part of the Amazon. Across San Vicente del Caguan, one of the country’s most deforested regions, illegal and informal roads fan out in an ever-expanding network, bringing visitors, commercial interests and farmers and ranchers who clear and burn the land. The result is the steady decay of Colombia’s Amazon. A Reuters map of the region shows a lattice of lines that crisscross one another and creep southward into the forest and fan out on all sides. The destruction, which is striking on the ground, is significant enough to be visible from the sky. Patches of deforestation appear at the furthest extent of the roads, according to ...
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