Two-thirds of critical forest areas for birds in Central America are at risk of destruction due to drug trafficking, a study published in Nature Sustainability reveals. Deforestation also plays its part, threatening the conservation of dozens of species, many of them rare.
Drug trafficking wrecks bird habitats
Amanda Rodewald, one of the authors of the Nature Sustainability study, explains that when law enforcement tightens, drug traffickers move into remote forest zones where they clear the land for roads, pastures, and airstrips. In other words, drug enforcement strategies can have indirect consequences that threaten biodiversity.
“These activities, along with the anti-drug strategies that contribute to them, are deforesting landscapes and endangering species,” said Rodewald, who serves as Senior Director of the Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the United States.
Cocaine trafficking, she said, is threatening the habitats of rare birds in Central America.
“Our study is a wake-up call that we cannot address social issues in isolation, as they may have unintended environmental consequences that harm conservation efforts,” she added.
Rising levels of cocaine trafficking have been recorded in the so-called “five great forests” of Central America. Through remote sensing, researchers have identified unique deforestation patterns that could be linked to drug trafficking and discovered that 15% to 30% of annual deforestation in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala can be attributed solely to cocaine trafficking.
As one in five migratory bird species inhabit these areas and some endangered species winter there, this trend arouses serious concerns as to their safety. The study highlighted that 90% of the global population of the golden-cheeked warbler, 70% of the golden-winged warbler, and the Philadelphia vireo live in those areas.
“This research offers an even more comprehensive view of the damage caused by drug trafficking and how we are currently combating it,” said researcher, Nicholas Magliocca. “The adaptive behavior of traffickers must be taken into account. More needs to be done than just reactively chasing drug dealers, who possess almost unlimited money and power in the region. There’s no doubt this is a complex, fluid, and dangerous situation,” he added.
Nicholas Magliocca, an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama, points out that law enforcement has played a key role in shifting trafficking routes and the deforestation areas linked to drug trafficking.
“After 40 years, this approach hasn’t worked. In fact, cocaine trafficking has only expanded, becoming a global network. Previously, cocaine merely passed through Central America, but now it has become a global transshipment hub,” Magliocca concluded.
Deforestation is also an enemy
In Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, deforestation is the greatest threat to species conservation.
Five centuries of economic exploitation and forest destruction have left deep scars on the Atlantic Forest, the second-largest forest by area on Brazilian territory that covers approximately 15% of Brazil’s land area and extends across 17 Brazilian states. The forest is home to over 70% of Brazil’s population and is responsible for 80% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Today, only around 12% of its original coverage remains, according to the SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation.
A study published in the journal, Environmental Conservation, highlights that forest cover and environmental characteristics play a key role in shaping the functional diversity of insectivorous birds in this biome. The research revealed that forest fragmentation can lead to the loss of species that perform specific ecological functions such as pest control.
The study was conducted by researchers from the Federal University of São Carlos and the São Paulo State University, with support from FAPESP. The study area covered the Cantareira-Mantiqueira ecological corridor in the southeastern Atlantic Forest, covering approximately 700,000 hectares and connecting the Cantareira and Serra da Mantiqueira State Parks.
“Deforestation and fragmentation have had significant impacts on bird populations over the past few decades. Degraded areas have fewer available niches, affecting bird community behavior and disrupting ecological dynamics,” explained biologist and research author, Enzo Coletti Manzoli.
