Caqueta
Third-largest department but top 5 in deforestation since 2001; 35% forest loss increase in 2024; cattle ranching replaced coca as primary deforestation driver.
Caquetá is Colombia's third-largest department and the Amazon's bleeding edge. Five national parks lie within its borders, yet it also ranks among the top five deforestation hotspots since 2001—losing its forest to the same economic logic that clears tropical frontier everywhere: coca first, cattle after. The 2016 peace accord accelerated the pattern. When FARC demobilized, forest loss spiked 160% as armed groups, land speculators, and ranchers rushed into vacuums the state couldn't fill.
The shift from coca to cattle explains the current crisis. A smallholder can survive on three or four hectares of coca; cattle ranching demands far more land per peso of income. When coca prices crashed in 2017, armed groups pivoted to controlling cattle trade and land markets. The Estado Mayor Central (EMC)—FARC dissidents—now regulates ranching, logging, and land sales across southern Caquetá. Deforestation rose 35% in 2024, with 63.6% of Colombia's forest loss occurring in the Amazon. Environment minister Muhamad blamed armed groups: 'nature has been put in the middle of the conflict.'
By 2026, Caquetá will test whether Colombia's pledges to curb deforestation can overcome armed-group economics. Campesino restoration projects in places like Cartagena del Chairá show alternatives exist—agroforestry that regenerates degraded pasture. But scaling these models requires state presence that barely exists beyond Florencia. If the government can provide security and markets for legal products, Caquetá's forest might stabilize. If not, cattle will finish what coca started.