TNRC - Partner Resource - TGNR - Corruption and criminality behind biodiversity loss in Colombia’s forests: Land grabbing

Corruption and criminality behind biodiversity loss in Colombia’s forests: Land grabbing

Transparent Governance of Natural Resources | May 2021 | Partner Resource

WWF Colombia, Transparency for Colombia (Transparencia por Colombia), the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible — FCDS), and InSight Crime teamed up to identify the facts of corruption and criminality behind the main drivers of deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss in Colombia’s Amazon and Pacific regions: illegal mining, land grabbing, illegal logging, and wildlife trafficking. All of them were tracked as part of a USAID-funded project, named Transparent Governance of Natural Resources (TGNR).

This video shares how protected territories in the northwestern Amazon region of Colombia, particularly those for indigenous communities or protected areas, have been targeted for land grabs: the illegal seizure and private exploitation of land explicitly set aside for a public or protected purpose. It also reveals how those punished by the state are often the weakest actors involved in the illicit activity and calls for laws to crack down on the promoters of the illegal land market.