Drug Trafficking in Central America is Accelerating Rate of Deforestation

A new report claims that increase in drug trafficking in Central America is upping the rate of deforestation in the region.

According to a report documented in the journal Science, forests in Central America are being damaged by drug traffickers, who are converting protected green areas into routes to ship narcotics and expand their activities.

Drug traffickers are reportedly destroying the remote regions of Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the neighbouring countries. Rise in this activity is mainly due anti-trafficking efforts led by the United States and Mexico.

The smugglers are destroying forest areas to create landing strips for aircrafts that transport drugs. Due to combined threats from several illegal activities, the government of Honduras requested the World Heritage Committee to list the place on the 'List in Danger' in 2011.

"In response to the crackdown in Mexico, drug traffickers began moving south into Central America around 2007 to find new routes through remote areas to move their drugs from South America and get them to the United States," said Kendra McSweeney, lead author of the Science article and an associate professor of geography at The Ohio State University. "When drug traffickers moved in, they brought ecological devastation with them."

These smugglers are also converting forest regions into agricultural lands to launder drug money, which is an illegal activity. The profits they make are used to bribe government officials who cover up for them and also make sure they don't lose land entitlement.  

Between the years 2007 and 2011, the rate of deforestation in Honduras more than quadrupled. During the same time, a slight rise in the cocaine movement was also noticed.

McSweeney has been conducting a research in Honduras for the past 20 years.

"Starting about 2007, we started seeing rates of deforestation there that we had never seen before. When we asked the local people the reason, they would tell us: "los narcos" (drug traffickers)," McSweeney, a geographer said.

He asserts on the need for further research to investigate the association between drug trafficking and conservation issues. But this study highlights the widespread effect of the U.S. drug policy.

He also added that modifying drug policies could help improve the condition of Central America's disappearing forest cover.