140212 Narcotics Trafficking Slashes Central American Forests

The drug trade has devastated（破壞） communities in Central and South America（中美洲、南美洲）. Policy makers（決策者） are now looking at moving away from trying to stop drug production, to trying to curb demand（控制需求）. If it works and narcotic（毒藥的） producers lose power, Central America’s （中美洲）forests may benefit along with its people. That’s according to a new policy report in the journal Science（根據(jù)新的政策報(bào)告）. [Kendra McSweeney et al., Drug Policy as Conservation Policy: Narco（毒品）-Deforestation（森林消失）]

It turns out that the growth of the cocaine business has led in Central ?America to what’s called narco-deforestation. The practice takes place in ecologically sensitive and even protected areas.

Poverty, weak governments, and illegal logging （非法伐木）all affect forest use. But Central America has become an important bridge between theU.S.and South America’s cocaine. Forests have been slashed （砍伐）for roads and plane landings. And when local ranchers or timber sellers become rich with drug money, they expand their operations（運(yùn)營(yíng)）. Narcotic producers also develop habitat for legal agriculture that’s used to launder（洗錢的洗） drug money. Government agents are bribed to turn away, and conservation groups fear （害怕做）entering these areas.

The study authors say that the ecological and conservation impacts of the drug trade are underappreciated—and that they should inform both conservation and drug policy in the future.

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