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The Amazon forest devastated by narco-logging: 2022 trees are cut down every second in 21

According to a report by the UNODC, the UN office that monitors international trafficking, the drug trafficking economy in the Amazon is expanding its criminal activity which now also includes wild logging

The Amazon forest devastated by narco-logging: 2022 trees are cut down every second in 21

Intensive farming, mineral exploration and the illicit sale of wood, carried out by the respective "professionals" of the sector, were not enough. For some time to wreak havoc on the Amazon rainforest, the lung of the planet, an intruder has also got involved, which however is one of the largest, if not the largest underground economy in the world: drug trafficking. The proof is that even the UNODC, the UN office in charge of monitoring international drug trafficking, for the first time in its annual report has dedicated a special chapter to the “narco-logging”. 

Amazonia: 900 drug routes and criminal activities

"The economics of drug trafficking in the Amazon basin - writes the document - it is expanding its activity to other segments, such as illegal wood extraction, illicit mineral exploration, illegal land seizure, and even the trafficking of wild animals". Not to mention that even drug trafficking alone jeopardizes the balance of the environment and above all the safety of indigenous communities, given that through the Amazon as many as 900 drug routes, in particular of cocaine, within four states of South America: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia.

The UNODC study took into consideration official statistical data and carried out 25 interviews with experts in the area, thus concluding that not only do narcos use the Amazon basin to cultivate and transport drugs, but since they frequent it so assiduously there are putting their hands on 360 degrees, putting even more at risk the stability of the ecosystem, now threatened not only by "simple" deforestation but also by a whole series of criminal activityi, which exposes indigenous communities to gun violence, mercury poisoning and migration. In fact, indigenous communities are evicted or exploited for the activity in question (for example the extraction of gold or precious stones, in conditions of absolute insecurity), not to mention rapes and the trafficking of human beings, even minors.

What is narco-logging

The "narco-deforestation" is therefore nothing other than the greedy opportunity to launder the money deriving from drug trafficking directly on site, which is cleaned through the purchase of land and other illicit and speculative activities, including the same cultivation of substances to be placed on the market, such as cocaine, marijuana but also synthetic drugs of plant origin. The wild logging it is also done with the intention of cementing as many areas as possible, in order to build more comfortable roads for traffic and also clandestine runways for planes to land and take off, another growing business within the planet's largest rainforest.

By now clandestine airstrips there are hundreds: a recent study counted almost 3.000, of which only 58% appear on official registers, while 28% arise in theoretically protected areas, such as that of the Yanomami community, which in the first months of 2023 recorded 130 deaths - most of whom are children under 4, due to malnutrition – due to a health emergency linked to the invasion of the reserve. Under the Bolsonaro government, deaths on the Yanomami reservation have increased by 331% in four years, as a result of illegal activities in the area, including those related to “eco-narcos”.

All this is even more worrying when linked to the latest data on global drug trafficking: According to the UNODC, there are almost 300 million people in the world who use drugs, ie a 23% increase over the last ten years. Not only that: 39,5 million people suffer serious health problems due to drug use, an increase of 45% in a decade, and above all only one in five receives adequate medical treatment. This is to the advantage of drug trafficking, which can thus enhance its business. 

Amazonia: in 2022, 21 trees were cut down every second

And meanwhile the Amazon rainforest weeps: according to the MapBiomas survey, in 2022 they were cut down 21 trees per second.

A frightening fact that brings with it all the ecological, but also geopolitical consequences: in such a scenario, it is increasingly difficult for the international community to carry out effective green policies. The Amazon fund, re-established with the return of Lula to the presidency of Brazil, now sees the contribution only of Germany and Norway, with the promise of funds from the US, the European Union and the United Kingdom. But in the meantime the EU itself has unilaterally accelerated the entry into force of the sanctions for South American companies that export raw materials through illegal activities: starting from 2024 it will be completely it is forbidden to import products of illicit origin in Europe, despite the protests of Brazil and Mercosur. And drug trafficking is also to blame.

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