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Forest remnants in the Colombian Amazon, Andes, and Chocó are the last repositories of a highly diverse and endemic biota. Historical changes in the Colombian landscape have been dramatic, but the magnitude and rate of change has increased over the last half century, while conflict has consumed the capacity of Colombian society to respond to environmental threats. Academic experts in the study of the Colombian conflict have explored the social, political, and economic implications of the war. However, the environmental consequences of conflict are documented only when groups in conflict target salient economic resources. This paper presents the first analysis of the geographic distribution of forest remnants in relation to armed conflict in Colombia. Results show that guerrillas and/or paramilitaries range throughout areas of human encroachment into remnant forests. The policies promoted by Colombia's irregular armed forces range from "gunpoint conservation" rarely applied by guerrillas, to the rapid conversion of forests and crops to cattle ranches and coca (Erythroxylum sp.) plantations, following paramilitary occupation. Because the rates and extent of fragmentation are linked to such land use practices, armed groups may play a crucial role in determining the fate of Colombia's forests and their endemic biota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1980s, Nicaragua's Sandinista government faced armed mestizo and indigenous insurgencies in much of the nation's central and eastern regions. After the Sandinistas lost the 1990 elections, the in-coming government signed peace agreements with the insurgents and facilitated their return to civilian life. With the war over, the Nicaraguan army greatly reduced its troop strength, leaving tens of thousands of people unemployed. Within a few years, however, many former insurgents and soldiers took up arms again for multiple and complex reasons. This paper examines how three groups that rearmed influenced forest conservation in the buffer zone of Nicaragua's Bosawas Biosphere Reserve between 1991 and 1999. The three groups were the mestizo Northern Front 3-80 (FN3-80) and the Andrés Castro United Forces (FUAC), made up of former 'Nicaraguan Resistance' and Sandinista soldiers respectively, and the Miskito YATAMA movement. The presence of these armed groups impeded the government from taking coercive action to remove farmers from the reserve's nucleus. It also limited the advance of cattle ranching. At times, the groups favored logging, at times they did not. The armed conflicts have tended to keep out prudent foreign investors and encourage the presence of smaller companies willing to take greater risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]