Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: The Amazon In Colombia

The Colombian Amazon represents one of the world’s most important—and most often overlooked—rainforest regions. While most folks associate the Amazon with Brazil—rightfully so, considering that over 60% of the Amazon forests lies within Brazil’s borders—the size and diversity of Colombia’s corner of Amazonia are staggering. How many people realize that the Colombian Amazon is twice the size of New England? Or that the biodiversity in western Amazonia is much greater than that found in the rest of the Basin? Or that indigenous peoples—thanks to farsighted Colombian government policies enacted by conservation leaders —manage enormous tracts of these forests?

Much of the news regarding Colombia that appears in the western press is unremittingly negative. And the forces of environmental devastation that beset much of the rest of the world; deforestation for industrial agriculture, destructive extractive activities, and the migration of the impoverished—exist in Colombia as well.  Nonetheless, there are ample reasons for hope and optimism regarding the Colombian forests that one seldom reads about in the English-speaking world.


So, when we think about the Amazon, we must extend our visions beyond the borders of Brazil. Brazil certainly plays a key role in the fate of the forest - but there are eight other Amazonian countries. How many of us think of Colombia as a land of hope and good news? It may seem surprising that this will prove to be the case in Colombia, but remember: this is the country that invented magical realism.....