Colombia increases reforestation target

BOGOTA, Colombia

The Colombian government has announced that the country’s goal is to reforest 750,000 hectares (1.85 million acres) of land by 2026, the environment ministry said.

Environment Minister Maria Susana Muhamad announced that Colombia will go "from a goal of 120,000 hectares (296,526 acres) to be restored in the four years by the last government to a goal of 750,000 (1,853,290) hectares during the next four years."

One of the key election proposals of President Gustavo Petro, who came to power in August 2022, was to fight climate change and deforestation. His government has proposed to restore 187,500 hectares (463,322 acres) annually and to reduce deforestation by 20% to 140,000 hectares (345,948 acres) per year by the end of his term.

However, the deforestation reduction target is less ambitious than the 100,000 hectares per year by 2025 that the country previously agreed to with Germany, Norway and the UK in 2019. Muhamad acknowledged that the number "is a bit conservative."

Colombia's forests have been devastated by mining, illicit crops, extensive cattle ranching, timber commercialization and other factors that have contributed to large areas of the country being destroyed.

According to the Ministry of Environment, 58% of deforestation in Colombia is concentrated throughout the country's Amazon region, one of the richest places in biodiversity on earth.

More than 174,000 hectares (about 430,000 acres) of forest were deforested in the country in 2021, especially in the departments of Caqueta, Meta, Guaviare, Putumayo, Norte Santander, Antioquia, Nariño and Choco, leaving wide-ranging consequences for the environment and indigenous and rural communities.

Former President Ivan Duque announced while he was in power that the country’s goal was to plant 180 million trees by 2022.