Fleeing justice, drug smugglers are venturing deeper into some of the planet's most remote forests, with potentially disastrous consequences for birdlife, reports The Guardian.
Researchers are warning that two-thirds of the areas most critical for forest birds in Central America are facing increased risks due to the illegal drug trade.
The smugglers are building airstrips and roads to move goods. However, they are also clearing forests to launder money through cattle ranching and control territory, according to the study published in Nature Sustainability.
Millions of hectares of tropical forest have been destroyed as a result of drug trafficking. Indigenous peoples living in these areas are being forced to accept money for the smugglers to use their land, according to the researchers. However, the study also highlights risks to 67 species of migratory birds that breed in the USA and Canada but winter in Central America, several of which are rare and endangered.
15–30 per cent of the annual deforestation in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala can be linked to the trafficking of cocaine, according to the study, which is based on satellite data analysis.
