Colombia's rainforest is part of the Amazon and is rich in biodiversity. However, cattle ranching is rapidly expanding in the country, leading to deforestation and fragmentation of the rainforest at the expense of unique species and habitats. The main drivers are economic; beef production is profitable and is carried out both legally and illegally.
'There is an urgent need to regulate land tenure and strengthen environmental regulations. People also need alternative sources of income, such as agroforestry, ecotourism or community forestry,' says Jesica López, a PhD student at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC) and the Agenda 2030 Graduate School at Lund University.
The links between people and nature
On 11 October, Jesica López will defend her thesis 'From Canopy to Catastrophe: Understanding the environmental crisis in the northern Colombian Amazon'. Jesica López grew up in Colombia, where she studied environmental biology, and went on to study forestry and conservation at the University of Copenhagen, before coming to Lund. Her research interests have always revolved around understanding the links between people and nature, and she stresses the importance of considering complex socio-ecological systems in order to influence decision-makers and bring about change.
In her research, she points out that food production is responsible for up to 80 per cent of global biodiversity loss, mainly due to livestock. It is also responsible for a third of all greenhouse gas emissions.
But while the acceleration of cattle ranching in the Amazon is wreaking havoc on nature, she is not advocating a ban. Instead, she says, it is important to address the economic causes and provide indigenous and peasant communities with new livelihoods. Livestock now accounts for almost half of Colombia's GDP.
Economic solutions for local people
As part of her PhD, Jesica López organised interviews with key stakeholders and three webinars in Colombia to gather expert information and understand the synergies and trade-offs between livestock expansion, land use change and future opportunities. The aim was to find alternative economic solutions for local people as a way of tackling deforestation.
She was also on the ground in Colombia in December 2022 to bring together key stakeholders in a workshop. Participants worked on defining the problem - a vision for sustainable cattle ranching over the next 10 years to reduce deforestation in the Amazon - and possible scenarios to ensure conservation efforts in the region.
'There is no simple answer to the question of how to do this, but a key factor is to make better use of existing pastures. By allowing cows to graze the grass in rotational cycles, the soil has time to recover and can be used again, rather than taking up more land. We need nature-based solutions and regenerative agriculture that addresses both social and environmental concerns.'
On a personal level, as EU citizens, we can demand more transparency in supply chains so that meat is not imported from deforested areas.
Cooperation needed to protect the Amazon
Another key conclusion of her thesis is the urgent need for better data management and transparency. Jesica found that authorities in Colombia often lack up-to-date or reliable data on deforestation and land use, making it difficult to monitor and address the problem. They also often work in separate silos.
More cooperation between countries is also needed. The Amazon rainforest stretches across nine countries and joint efforts are needed to protect the land and its unique biodiversity. Jesica López hopes that her research will serve as a communication tool for policymakers and stakeholders, and she has deliberately kept her thesis short and supplemented it with images and graphics to make it accessible to as many people as possible.
After her defence on 11 October, Jesica López will travel to the COP16 UN Conference on Biodiversity. It will be held in Cali, in her home country of Colombia, and she knows the stakes are high.
'This is an extremely important conference. All parties need to show how they will implement measures and funding mechanisms are needed to protect biodiversity. The decisions taken there will determine the future of our planet.'
Thesis ‘From Canopy to Catastrophe: Understanding the Environmental Crisis in Northern Colombian Amazon’ - Lund University Research Portal
Follow Jesica López, member of the organisation Focali, during COP16 - focali.se