Latin America

Not just in Brazil: deforestation also on the rise in Venezuelan Amazon

Despite losing less forest cover than the regional average in previous years, the Venezuelan Amazon is now seeing a rapid and dangerous transformation, partly thanks to government-sanctioned mining expansions

venezuela amazon
Orinoco River, Venezuela. Photo: Bayazed/Shutterstock

Environmental issues are not often the center of attention when it comes to Venezuela. Hyperinflation, economic scarcity, and brutal domestic and regional political conflicts have all led to one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the continent’s modern history, with 6.8 million refugees and migrants abandoning the country in search of a better life elsewhere, according to data from the United Nations.

But while 21st-century forest destruction in Venezuela has been far lower than some of its regional neighbors, experts point to the quickening pace of deforestation to suggest that the country’s environmental issues cannot remain under the radar for long.

Venezuela is one of nine countries with a portion of the Amazon rainforest within its borders. The biome covers half of Venezuela’s total land and is home to at least 51 different indigenous peoples as well as a rich diversity of riverlands, minerals, and endemic plant and animal species.

Using data from Global Forest Watch and the Amazon Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information, a new report by the Caracas-based environmental human rights observatory Clima21 reveals that Venezuela lost an average of 157,307 hectares of forest per year between 2016 and 2020, equivalent to cutting down an area the size of Los Angeles every 12 months.

While this pales in comparison to deforestation levels in neighboring — and massive —  Brazil, the issue becomes clear when compared to forest...

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