Colombia: almost half of coca crops are in conservation and special management zones

In Colombia, the area planted with coca leaves increased by 10% in one year. If in 2022 230,000 hectares were identified, by 2023 this figure reached 253,000. 48% of this area is concentrated in natural parks, collective territories and forest reserve areas. These figures come from the Monitoring of territories with the presence of coca crops 2023, a report prepared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

“The increase in demand worldwide puts pressure on the increase in the cultivated area in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia,” said Ángela María Buitrago, Minister of Justice of Colombia, during the presentation of the report.

The number of drug users has increased by 20% in the last ten years. It is estimated that currently, about 23 million people use cocaine, according to the UNODC World Drug Report 2024.

The monitoring carried out in Colombia identified that 16 of the 19 departments with coca leaf crops show an increasing trend; Cauca and Nariño are the most affected. In these departments, as well as in Putumayo, Norte de Santander, Bolívar and Antioquía, the 15 productive enclaves identified three years ago remain. These enclaves represent 14% of the national territory and 39% of the area planted with coca leaves is concentrated in them. “[Esos enclaves] “They are close to the border area or close to the trafficking route,” Leonardo Correa, technical coordinator of the Integrated Illicit Crops Monitoring System (SIMCI) of the UNODC, explained to Mongabay Latam.

Correa highlights that the UNODC report makes a clear differentiation between zones of concentration — places of high productivity, where there is an increasing amount of coca crops — and deconcentration — places where the amount of crops is decreasing. This marks the need for public policy to also be differentiated.

Monitoring shows that 82% of the total chemical substances for the production of cocaine are used in the concentration areas. Likewise, 47% of all deforestation in Colombia happens there. The SIMCI specialist explained that coca is not such a strong factor in deforestation, but in these areas there is also illegal mining. Meanwhile, 18% of the country’s deforestation occurs in the deconcentration zones.

“The fact that coca is concentrating means that in these territories, the specific weight of the activity is becoming very strong,” says Correa. In this case it would no longer be a matter of only implementing productive alternatives for families, but rather of scaling the solutions to the municipalities.

A threat to conservation

48% of coca leaf crops are in areas that have been declared as conservation or special management areas. Of that percentage, 20% is found on lands of Afro-descendant communities; 14% in Second Law forest reserves; 10%, in indigenous reservations and 4%, in national natural parks.

Correa explained that the presence of coca leaf fields is not the only problem, but everything that revolves around the production of the plant.

For example, in concentration areas, drug trafficking requires the transportation of almost 1 million cubic meters of liquid inputs and 192,980 tons of solid inputs, the construction of roads to move the material, corruption of the control authorities and the implementation of security systems for the entire production chain. “Those elements threaten the biodiversity at the site and our ability to protect biodiversity. That puts environmental leaders at more risk in those places,” he said.

In an interview with Mongabay Latam, the specialist explained that a fifth of coca crops are deployed in Afro-Colombian territories, located along the Pacific Coast, since they are in the exit areas and between two large ports used by drug trafficking, the of Buenaventura, in Colombia, and that of Guayaquil, in Ecuador.

For Correa, Tumaco “is one of the most complex sites in the analysis,” due to its strategic geographic location for drug trafficking and the “situation of historical abandonment.” The indigenous reservations face a similar situation. There is strong pressure on communities and social and environmental leaders who want to exercise governance in their territories.

At the press conference, the head of the Ministry of Justice announced that the government is concentrating efforts in the Pacific region, Catatumbo (Norte de Santander) and Putumayo.

Although the percentage of coca leaf crops in national natural parks is low, it is still a problem. Correa explained that this 4% is “strongly” concentrated in three natural parks. Furthermore, on the periphery of the reserves “there is a large amount of coca (leaf),” he said and assured that these plantations have cornered Munchique Park.

Crop growth and concentration

Another finding from the monitoring carried out by the UNODC is that the potential production of cocaine rose to 53% during 2023. “Every time we are finding that new forms are invented, new elements that improve production yields,” Correa said. In 2015, the average production of coca leaves was 4,800 kilos per year; while in 2023 it was 8,500.

During the presentation of the results and to graph the concentration, Correa reported that four departments have more than 30,000 hectares of crops: Nariño, Putumayo, Cauca and Norte de Santander. In contrast, seven departments concentrate less than 500 hectares: Amazonas, Vaupés, Guainía, Vichada, Santander, Boyacá and Magdalena. Eight departments have between 2,000 and 20,000 hectares: Caquetá, Meta, Guaviare, Valle del Cauca, Chocó, Antioquia, Córdoba and Bolívar. César’s department stopped having coca in 2023.

In the enclave areas, the amount of coca leaves planted increased almost threefold, reported the UNODC specialist. Unlike the past, in these territories an incentive system has been created in which people can access goods and services with the profits from the sale of coca leaves, Correa explained. “That makes people want to make the effort to improve productivity,” he said.

The Monitoring also found that 86% of the population centers closest to coca leaf crops are at the submunicipal level and that 93,000 of the 253,000 hectares of crops are less than 15 kilometers from a municipal seat. This information is important, Correa clarified, because the municipal capitals are internal planning units with which the government could work for the implementation of public works, in contrast to the submunicipal level centers, which do not have their own budget.

Another finding is that Popayán is the metropolitan center closest to 59% of the plots with coca leaf crops. Populated centers were defined as the 12 main cities of Colombia. This figure is also useful to guide the improvement of government institutional capacities in justice or health issues.

In the deconcentration zones, which are mainly in the center of the country, armed groups are still present and searching for other sources of crime, said the specialist. “The fact that there is no coca does not imply that the situation in those territories is positive,” he said.

Alternatives and solutions

Between 1994 and 2023, nearly three million hectares of coca crops were eradicated in Colombia, “and the problem remains unresolved,” said the Minister of Justice. Buitrago assured that eradication will not be abandoned. The government plans to “eradicate in a controlled manner, through terrestrial spraying of a product that does not cause environmental harm or damage to the peasant or human population,” he said. Although he did not clarify what substance will be used.

“Repressive responses are insufficient and their results are temporary,” said Buitrago before clarifying that the aim is to implement a drug policy that not only addresses the manifestations of drug trafficking, but also points to the structural causes of organized crime with a perspective of social and environmental justice.

UNODC Monitoring highlights the Territorial Missions Strategy, an inter-institutional coordination and articulation mechanism that seeks to ensure that rural communities that depend on illicit economies linked to drugs transition progressively and sustainably to licit economies.

Also noteworthy is the Project Bank, which in 2023 technically and financially supported some 20,000 people from 12 agro-productive and conservation initiatives of peasant communities and organizations, indigenous reservations and community councils in the regions of Catatumbo, Nariño, Guaviare, Caquetá and Sur. of Bolivar. In addition, the Comprehensive National Program for the Substitution of Crops for Illicit Use was highlighted, which until August 2023 committed 2.3 billion dollars to support more than 80,000 people linked to the program.

*Featured image: Aerial images of coca crops in Colombia. Courtesy of UNODC.

The original article was published by Ana Cristina Alvarado y Antonio José Paz en Mongabay Latham. You can review it here.

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