Description
This case study report focuses on environmental security in the Matavén area in Colombia.
The main problem dealt with in this paper is the threat for (indigenous) communities to be driven off their lands by guerrilla and paramilitary warfare and by the cultivation or the eradication of illegal crops.
The violence, the cultivation of illegal crops and their eradication by pesticides and fumigation lead to forest destruction and serious water pollution. The conflicts are now also spilling over into the neighbouring countries.
The challenge now for Colombia is to protect its wealth of ecosystem services and the indigenous people's culture and way of life. To achieve this it must be able to enforce laws, provide its people with security and viable alternatives. Foundational to achieving the challenges are not only payments for ecosystem services, e.g. carbon sequestration, from foreign donors but also remote sensing monitoring of these ecosystems in order to prioritize problematic areas.
Information
- Author(s)
- Hyde Hecker, Jeanna
- Publisher
- Institute for Environmental Security
- Place published
- The Hague
- Date / journal vol no.
- October 2005
- Pages
- 26
