Illegal roads expand in Colombia’s deforestation hotspots

Illegal roads expand in Colombia’s deforestation hotspots

MOCOA, Colombia — From the air, the forests in Putumayo, Colombia’s southwestern Amazonian department, look scarred. Light brown lines snake through the canopy. In the eastern part of Putumayo’s Puerto Guzmán municipality, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) of irregular roads, mostly dirt tracks, cut through the forests, according to the report. Many of them are flanked by bare land where trees once stood. From October 2024 to March 2025, more than …