Failed U.S. 'War on Drugs' Endangers Central American Bird Habitats, Study Warns

One-fifth of bird species that migrate to the region every year from North America have more than half of their global population within landscapes where narco-trafficking is expected to increase.

September 22, 2024 by Mongabay



By Boris van der Spek

Migratory and resident forest birds in Central America are being threatened by habitat loss due to narco-trafficking activity, according to a recent study.

Antidrug policies have pushed traditional trafficking routes in Central America into more remote, forested regions, where they threaten to destroy two-thirds of important bird landscapes.

One-fifth of bird species that migrate to the region every year from North America have more than half of their global population within landscapes where narco-trafficking is expected to increase.

A study co-author attributes the problem to the failed U.S.-led “war on drugs,” saying that “drug policy creates narcos and keeps them moving around.”

Every year, between November and February, the golden-cheeked warbler makes its way down from the U.S. state of Texas to Central America. But as it travels to find refuge from the winter, this tiny, endangered bird, Setophaga chrysoparia, with its bright-yellow cheeks and a buzzing song, seems unable to evade habitat loss. More than 90% of the golden-cheeked warbler population winters in a region that is at increased risk of deforestation, experts are warning.

It isn’t alone. Dozens of migratory and native forest birds in Central America could see as much as two-thirds of their habitats threatened by encroaching narco-trafficking activity that drives deforestation, according to recently published research. More than half of the migratory species analyzed had more than a quarter of their global populations in landscapes that have become more vulnerable to drug-related deforestation in Central America. And this is only for the migratory species that breed in North America, the study authors say.

They found that antidrug policies can push narco-trafficking into more remote forest areas, many of which represent important bird landscapes. Some of the areas that have become more vulnerable as a result lie within Central America’s Five Great Forests: the Maya Forest in Guatemala, the Indio-Maiz in Nicaragua, the Tortuguero in Costa Rica, and the Moskitia in Honduras. The study found that since 1970, deforestation had pushed half of the population of resident and migratory birds in the affected areas into decline.

“The degree to which we found that the most important areas for these forest residents and migratory species overlapped with areas becoming more impacted by deforestation due to drug trafficking was higher than we expected,” said study lead author Amanda Rodewald, senior director of the Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the U.S.

More:
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/failed-u-s-war-on-drugs-endangers-central-american-bird-habitats-study-warns/