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thank you
we're pretty high up in the Colombian
Andes
about two to three thousand meters above
sea level we're searching for a very
specific bird called a yellow-eared
carpet
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foreign
for decades people thought the
yellow-eared parrot was extinct until it
was spotted again and a group of
conservationists worked hard to bring
its numbers back up
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foreign
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conservationist who devoted his life to
the yellow-eared parrot
but Colombia is a place where something
is innocent is protecting a bird can get
you killed Cardona disappeared in
January of 2021. his body was found four
days later buried in a shallow grave
with two bullet wounds to the chest is
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you know
no one has been arrested for cardona's
death and it's likely that no one ever
will be
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Gonzalo Cardona was just one land
defender in this one region but there
are people like him in every corner of
this large and Incredibly
environmentally rich country and all of
them on some level are putting their
lives on the line
here environmental activists are
murdered by the hundreds around the
world they die for their opposition to
logging Mining and hydroelectric dams or
simply for defending their land from
multinational corporations
in Colombia 33 environmentalists were
murdered in 2021 alone according to the
NGO Global Witness
Colombia is on the front lines of the
struggle to protect the planet it's one
of the most biodiverse places in the
world rich with ecosystems vital for
mitigating climate change
it's also rich with natural resources
worth a lot of money and it's full of
cheap guns for hire and criminal
militias that can get away with almost
anything
when Colombia's best known
environmentalist is Francia Marquez in
August she became the country's first
ever black vice president as part of the
country's first ever left-wing
government but before that she was known
as an activist against Goldmine and this
is how she lived constantly in the
company of armed audience
we interviewed Marquez back in April of
2021 more than a year before her entry
into National politics
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is called
foreign
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thank you
foreign
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foreign
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cuando and nombre de las impressions
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Colombiano
's
organization
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foreign
minister of the environment he denied
them and either way the problems go much
deeper than any one Administration
The paramilitaries Who targeted Marquez
and other activists are a legacy of
Colombia's Civil War at the height of
the conflict big landowners formed
private armies to fight against
left-wing revolutionaries
these hyper-violent militias have the
secret approval and support of the
government they committed massacres and
other atrocities more freely than the
actual Armed Forces today the
paramilitaries have evolved into
powerful drug traffickers they kill
anyone who gets in their way or who
threatens powerful commercial interests
with someone like Francia Marquez now at
the highest levels of power Colombians
are hopeful for change the new
government has an aggressive
environmental agenda promising to end a
new oil exploration and curb
deforestation
but such change will inevitably meet
resistance from the most powerful people
in Colombia those who for decades have
gotten rich off the land
those people have long counted on the
complicity of the states and vital
ecosystems have paid the price such as
the Amazon rainforest arguably the most
precious and vulnerable ecosystem in the
world
one of the main ways that people monitor
deforestation in the Amazon is by doing
flyovers of the Jungle in little planes
like this one and so today we're riding
along with a specific NGO that works
heavily in this region
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foreign
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that is the frontier of deforestation in
the Amazon
um
Grande
at first the clearing of the land is
illegal illegal but often the government
then legalizes it retroactive allowing
the land to be bought and sold at market
prices
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Los Angeles
it's not just about the state being
complicit with private actors
some of the most intractable conflicts
in the world are over major
infrastructure projects actively pursued
by national governments
that's the case in the Gulf of triwuga
on Colombia's Pacific Coast where
developers have been trying to build the
deep water port for 20 years the
environmental damage would be severe the
gulf is thought to be one of the most
biodiverse and pristine ecosystems on
the planet
foreign
so special
I think you have virtually undisturbed
ocean coming into contact with virtually
undisturbed rainforests there are very
few places in the world where you can
find that at this point
and in both instances
the ecosystems are extremely biodiverse
and that has to do with the fact that
they interact in the way that they do
these combined ecosystems capture
tremendous amounts of carbon essential
for slowing the pace of climate change
instead of destroying the gulf a report
they consider unnecessary many Community
leaders would rather preserve it for
tourism one of them is Fausto Moreno who
owns a tiny eco lodge and a remote part
of the Gulf thanks
guys
foreign
in October of 2020 paramilitaries
kidnapped a friend of faustos a vocal
opponent of the port project named Juana
perea
they forced her to strip naked and kneel
then shot her three times
although one member of the golf Clan the
country's largest Narco militia was
arrested for the murder it's not clear
who ordered the hit or why
but it's sent to chill through the
community of local conservationists
fear is what clears the way for
companies and governments to exploit the
land
and it's not just individual activists
who bear the brunt sometimes entire
towns are wiped out by fear
20 years ago paramilitary stormed the
village of tribuga executed two people
and drove the rest into the jungle
this was around the time the port
project was first proposed and Fausto is
not the only one to think the two were
connected
is
foreign
displaced residents have been coming
home
but it's a small number
most of the Village's houses are still
abandoned and have swallowed by the
jungle
they're a reminder of the cost of what
we're told is economic progress and the
fact that when people stand in the way
of development it's almost always the
people who lose
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I'm Michael larimuth editor-in-chief of
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