Conference Agenda

Colombia is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, home to over 10% of the planet’s biodiversity. Much of this richness is found in the Amazon biome, which spans over 43% of the country’s land surface. Despite its ecological importance, the region faces growing threats from deforestation, leading to biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystem services. Key drivers of this deforestation include socio-environmental conflicts, such as land conversion, coca cultivation, and illegal mining, all of which are compounded by Colombia’s longstanding internal armed conflict. Socioeconomic conditions in local communities add to these drivers, yet a lack of reliable data limits understanding and has led to a gap in the literature. This study explores the links between socioeconomic factors, socio-environmental conflicts, and deforestation in the Colombian Amazon Biome. Using both traditional econometric methods and machine learning (ML) techniques, we analyze a broad set of indicators to identify the main drivers of forest loss. The models reveal that while the impact of coca cultivation on deforestation has decreased, land grabbing and, more recently, illegal mining have become leading contributors. Other consistent predictors include poverty and the presence of basic trails and roads. The analysis further confirms that the northwestern zone remains the most threatened subregion.