Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Indigenous Hands, No Glyphosate

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BOGOTA, Jun 21 2004 (IPS) - Indians in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta nature reserve in northern Colombia began an effort on Jun. 15 to manually eradicate illegal crops of coca and marijuana as part of a governmental plan to fight the drug trade. To protect the environment, the Indians asked the government to keep its promise to accept manual eradication of the crops as a total substitute for fumigation with the herbicide glyphosate.

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is one of 49 protected areas in Colombia, which together cover 10 million hectares, or 10 percent of national territory.

The government was preparing to fumigate the drug crops in the area with the powerful and toxic glyphosate as part of U.S.-sponsored programs, but pressure from non-governmental organizations led to alternative pilot projects like destruction of coca, the raw material for cocaine, and marijuana, by hand.