Having signed a protocol last year to boost agricultural exports to China, Colombia last month sent its first-ever beef shipments to that country. Access to China’s market is expected not only to spur dramatic expansion of Colombia’s beef production, but also to drive up its deforestation rates as ranchers scramble to meet demand, experts say. The government estimates beef exports to China could top 100,000 tons annually by 2025. That’s more than twice the 45,000-ton total Colombia sold abroad in 2022. Forest-protection advocates fear an unintended consequence will be large-scale land-use change—especially in the Amazon, where ranching on private property has increasingly extended onto publicly owned lands, where it is ostensibly prohibited. Last year the rate of land clearing declined nationwide as the government of President Gustavo Petro made environmental protection a priority in peace negotiations with armed groups that have continued operating in... [Log in to read more]