Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 26, 2025
08:16
Collecting and Processing Drone-based Remotely Sensed Data for Use in Forest Recovery Monitoring
Published on: October 24, 2025
353
Deforestation in Colombian protected areas increased during post-conflict periods
N Clerici1, D Armenteras2, P Kareiva3
1Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Universidad del Rosario, Kr 26 No 63B-48, 111221, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia. nicola.clerici@urosario.edu.co.
Scientific Reports
|March 20, 2020
Summary
Following Colombia's peace agreement, protected areas (PAs) experienced a significant increase in deforestation. This study highlights the complex relationship between conflict, conservation, and habitat loss in post-conflict zones.
Area of Science:
- Conservation Biology
- Environmental Science
- Ecology
Background:
- Protected areas (PAs) are crucial for biodiversity conservation but often face challenges from illegal activities.
- Armed conflict can inadvertently protect areas by deterring human incursions.
- Post-conflict transitions may lead to increased environmental degradation in previously inaccessible regions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively analyze the impact of Colombia's peace agreement on deforestation rates within and around protected areas.
- To provide a systematic before-and-after-conflict assessment using a large sample size.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an open-access global forest change dataset.
- Analyzed deforestation rates in 39 protected areas (PAs) and their buffer zones.
- Compared forest cover changes over a three-year period before and after the peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Main Results:
- A dramatic and statistically significant increase in deforestation rates was observed in the majority of studied PAs and their buffer zones post-agreement.
- The cessation of conflict led to increased human activity and subsequent habitat destruction.
Conclusions:
- The findings underscore the vulnerability of protected areas in post-conflict settings.
- Conservation strategies must adapt to the unique challenges presented by peace transitions to prevent widespread habitat loss and biodiversity decline.
Related Concept Videos
02:31Habitat Fragmentation
20.8K
Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.
20.8K
02:26Ecological Disturbance
20.5K
An ecological disturbance is a temporary disruption in the environment resulting from abiotic, biotic, or anthropogenic factors, causing a pronounced change in an ecosystem. The impact of an ecological disturbance, which can depend on its intensity, frequency, and spatial distribution, plays a significant role in shaping the species diversity within the ecosystem.
20.5K
01:50Threats to Biodiversity
26.4K
There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...
26.4K
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
12.4K
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
12.4K
02:04Conservation of Small Populations
16.5K
Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...
16.5K
02:22The Colonization of Land
36.9K
Changes in the environment of the early Earth drove the evolution of organisms. As prokaryotic organisms in the oceans began to photosynthesize, they produced oxygen. Eventually, oxygen saturated the oceans and entered the air, resulting in an increase in atmospheric oxygen concentration, known as the oxygen revolution approximately 2.3 billion years ago. Therefore, organisms that could use oxygen for cellular respiration had an advantage. More than 1.5 years ago, eukaryotic cells and...
36.9K