The FARC as Forest Stewards

War is a funny thing.. loaded with unintended consequences... so what happens when the world´s longest war happens in one of the World´s most beautiful countries.. well, amongst other things, a lot of preserved wilderness.
Now this is a funny argument to make, might even be controversial, but hear me now and believe me later, the FARC have been good for the ecology of Colombia. Now before this sounds like an advocacy of the FARC, let me first say that I am not even going to pretend I advocate anything about them. I don´t tend to have much patience for cafe revolutionaries. I could compliment them.. they are tough, they can be effective, and they have held out for a long time, sadly with the aid of a lot of Cocaine Money, and even some help from old Uncle Hugo next door. I could even say that most of the FARC rank and file genuinely believe in what they are doing, I can´t take that away from them, there are a lot of kids living in the jungle with good intentions, but it has been a long 50 years, and even old advocates who saw just how oligarchic Colombia was now believe that it's time to move on from this struggle. I will say in addition that things like the Valle De Cauca Assemblia Hostage Taking, and the accident though it might have been, up in Bojaya, Choco, with the Gas Cylinder Bomb, give me chills, it was brutal, but war is a funny thing, the world is a funny thing, and somehow, I am arguing, the FARC have been good for the forests.

Let me lay out my point.. when you drop through the rogues gallery of Colombia, there are a few big wheels that have been really wreaking havoc for years.. the FARC and ELN, the now demobilized M-19, the Narcos, the Paramilitaries, but wait, this ain´t no poli sci lesson, this is about ecology, and hope so where they heck am I going with this.. alright, lemme tell a side story for illustration.. I once met a British Army Jungle training specialist.. it was a particularly emotional time for him, because he was in the spot where he had first seen the hint of war at the age of 16 or 18 20 something years before.. he was in western Belize, where he had gone with his regiment to stop a Guatemalan attack on the country, which would have used the San Igancio-Belmopan-Belize City road as it's axis of attack.. so sometime in the 70´s this guy was a scared kid straddling that road to the west of San Ignacio with his regiment, right where I happened to be staying when he wandered into this bar in San Ignacio a few years back looking for someone to share the story with. I was game, and after he relived it and got a few Belikins into him, I started to ask him about the Jungle, about the Nature you might figure I kind of dig.. so he listed off all the jungles he had seen, and it was a loooong list.. so I then asked him which country had the best, most pristine jungle, he had an answer... I believe he said Guinea-Bissau, in West Africa, although it could have been Guinea, but satellite shows Guinea-Bissau being a lot greener, but anyways, when I asked him why, he said it's because the people there are afraid of the forest, so they leave well enough alone.

Well, if you are a Guerrilla Army that has given your country the grand distinction of "Kidnapping Capitol of the World", like Colombia is often referred to, then you have created a good bit of Fear yourselves... and I don't like making Lemon-Aid out of Lemons, but it{s hard not to see some here (actually, Colombians prefer Lime-Aid...). So Colombia is a beautiful country, Jaw Dropping at times in the drama of it{s mountain scenery and jungle expanses, but if you ticked down that list of powerful groups that like to throw their weight around, you would get to their Cattleman´s association quicker than you think. In fact, you would still be on your first two hands.. they have a lot of the Government by the Huevos, and in addition, have strong ties to both the oligarchy, who tended to be the landed gentry, and the old Paramilitaries that are proving to not be so old as land redistribution becomes a hot topic with the Peace Negotiations in Havana and a few months ago in Oslo (this post might actually be quite timely, the negotiations are going well, and this war could end soon...). The Paras are rearing their ugly heads in parts of the country where cattle ranches are being redistributed back to people forced into the cities.. you see, Colombia has a huge proportion of urbanization due to 50 years of trouble, 75%... you are hard pressed to find many third world countries higher that aren't either in the desert or City States.
CIA World Factbook on Urbanization
again, good for the Environment, bad for the country perhaps, as a lot of a nation's wisdom comes from those who live close to nature, and not many do in this country who aren't either carrying a gun or growing something that the law man might not approve of. to round off the list, the Coffee and Coca growers, although the Coca growers and the FARC go hand in had quite often, are two more groups that do like to saw down some wood.. there is logging in Colombia, but nothing on a scale of destruction that makes it stand out.
So back to my main thesis, take a look at this Map:
Colombia Reports FARC Front Map
I bet you if you go anywhere there is a FARC front, you will find a solid forest canopy.. there might not be much bush meat left, but the trees will be growing... since trees = cover... the one exception is where Coca might be grown, which does like it's share of sunlight, but Coca in the Carbon equation likely beats cattle, which the FARC, I will give on good authority, like to steel cows as well when all that fightin´works em up an appetite, people are even leery to graze near them.
It turns out I am not the only one to notice their occasional ecological bent:
Miami Herald Article on The FARC as Ecologists
and if you travel this country, from their greatest stronghold south of the Llanas in the northern Amazon along the side of the Sierra Occidental South of Villavicencia, to the savages of Choco, the rainiest place on earth where the Marines in Nuqui joke about the FARC front 2 km away and how no one has shot anyone else in years (If you want to know what a weird War this is, and why it has gone on for soooo long.. google the Human Right´s Laws of Colombia), the forest is pristine, and Embrerra Indians still live in their native ways, same in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, where their old Front 19 of 800 people is down to perhaps a paltry 15, but the old fear dies hard, and people don't mess with the woods there...
now before I sound too much like a cheerleader again, I will say their record ain't perfect.. they blow up oil infrastructure that starts fires, they get involved in some destructive mining operations, and they get in fights with the natives over Coca growing and ecological issues in which case they sometimes kill them if they get too mouthy,
Blog Post by The Marjan Center for the Study of Conservation and Conflict
 but I will gander that the majority of their Areas of Operations outside the good Coca areas (which tend to be mid level mountain sides) are forests worthy of National Park status... something for the boys in Havana to consider, because trust me, the cattle ranchers, lumbermen, coffee men, and coca growers might be looking forward to peace as much as anyone.. so a funny thing to find hope in a war, but I am not quite advocating you grab your trekking shoes, even though they recently disavowed kidnapping.. stick to Peru! I don't have any stats to back my assertions up, and if you have been reading, you know I love stats, but call it a hunch.
I will admit that I recently read a book on the Orchids of the Serranía de Baudó, just a tiny range by Colombian standards but essentially untouched perhaps due to the FARC, by a Plastic Surgeon from Medellin (trust me, he stays busy), who took it upon himself to explore this range for a week or two each year, over 20 years, until he had found close to 400 species in a small area alone, and I can imagine this is just the tip of the iceberg for what Colombian guide books continually proudly describe as the Megadiversity of their country. So fellas, lay down yer arms, but don't let the bastards come in after ya!