Recent research reveals that the expansion of cattle farming in Colombia is causing significantly more biodiversity loss than previously estimated. The new research finds that every 1% of pastureland established by deforestation in the country causes a 60% rise in biodiversity damage. This disturbing pivot begs the question of the environmental toll related to food production. Once placed among the world’s most biodiverse and biologically unique destinations, Colombia has recently fallen under colossal environmental threat from a booming drug trade.
Colombia’s rainforests comprise nearly one-third of the country’s land area and are home to an astonishing 10% of the world’s bird species. The toll on biodiversity is nothing short of horrifying as cattle ranching continues to push out these super biodiverse forests. The results point to an externality in the food sector as the industry fails to bear a burden of the environmental impact associated with meat production.
The Scope of Deforestation
A new study commissioned by WWF underscores the shocking pace of deforestation in Colombia. It zeroes in to the western Andes, where global demand for cattle farming has completely supplanted the region’s biodiverse rainforest ecosystems. Impacts to biodiversity were assessed in 13 ecoregions. Their results showed that deforestation leads to a much greater loss of species than suggested by ground surveys alone.
To put this in context, we calculated the biodiversity loss resulting from deforestation in those same 13 Colombia ecoregions. The lessons learned Our unexpected findings of still a shocking 62% higher biodiverse loss than the corresponding local survey data. This disparity further highlights the importance of looking beyond a narrow impact assessment when considering harms to our environment.
The research highlighted that tree clearance affects various habitats at different elevations, complicating efforts to understand the full extent of biodiversity loss. The research integrated results collected in more than ten years with a nuanced understanding of each species’ sensitivity to habitat conversion.
Unique Habitats and Bird Species
Colombia’s Caqueta and Napo moist forests are unique in their astounding biological diversity. Within an area no bigger than ten square kilometers, these forests host up to 500–600 bird species. Because most of these birds have specialized habitat needs, they are particularly susceptible to the destruction that comes with deforestation.
That survey alone documented 971 different bird species living in forests and cattle pastures throughout Colombia. In over 80% of the instances, researchers determined the identity of birds based on their calls alone. Visual confirmations were difficult to obtain in the modified environments.
This transition from rich forests to cattle pastures usually favors many of the more common and invasive species that take advantage of open, disturbed lands. This dynamic makes it extremely difficult to protect native biodiversity because invasive species do well in places where the original cast of characters has been removed.
Calls for Policy Change
These results highlight an immediate opportunity for policymakers to rethink how they manage land and invest in conservation. Professor David Edwards emphasized the implications of these results, stating, “The food we eat comes with a much greater environmental cost than we thought. We need policymakers to think much more about the larger-scale biodiversity impact of deforestation.”
Importantly, he described how we often use accepted methods to produce false evaluations of biodiversity losses. When people want to assess the broader, cumulative effect of deforestation on biodiversity, they do a local study and extrapolate those findings. Our planet is losing trees—more often than not, by the mile. It impacts a diverse range of habitat types and extreme elevations.
The alarming findings present a clear message: urgent action is necessary to mitigate the environmental impacts of cattle farming and other agricultural practices. In addition, as developers destroy trees to make room for pastureland, they interfere with these critical cash crops such as rubber, oil palm, sugar cane and coffee. This ongoing deforestation puts Colombia’s intricate biodiversity at risk.