Illegal Drug Trade in Colombia

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LIBA 110 Prof. McQuide Angela Chemas Exploration paper # 1. Environmental Effects of the Illegal Drug Trade in Colombia At several recent gatherings, scientists have demonstrated that the global drug problem, in particular drug processing and manufacturing, is damaging the flora and fauna of some of the world’s most environmentally sensitive areas. Colombia, one of the largest environmental hubs in the planet, with a territory of more than 1 million square kilometers, has been warning about the dangers of "ecocide" caused by the country's drug cartels for several years. As one of the most bio diverse countries in the world, it is home to 50,000 plant species and 18% of the world's bird species. Cultivation of illicit crops has led to destruction of 2.2 million hectares of tropical forest in Colombia, an area slightly larger than Wales. For every hectare of coca grown, three forest are cut down. This means that for each gram of cocaine used, four square meters of rainforest are cleared. The move represents a tacit admission that the past strategy of highlighting the cocaine trade's links to violence and kidnappings has struggled to leave much of an impression on the drug's users. Illegal drug production involve indiscriminate use of pesticides, fertilizers and corrective measures by those cultivating the crops, these actions alter the physiochemical properties of the soil. On top of that, we must consider the practice of burning rain forest to gain land for crops, and reductions in the flora and micro fauna in the soil such as symbiotic bacteria, larvae, etc. Furthermore, the emissions from refineries used to process the illicit crops increase the concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouses gases in the atmosphere. Based on this, we can say that it takes a very long time to recover from it and repair the damages caused by these processes. Consequently, we have

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