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By Oliver Griffin
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Deforestation in Colombia in 2024 is expected to have reached a higher level than during the previous year but is still forecast to be among the lowest levels in more than two decades, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said on Monday.
Deforestation fell by more than a third to just over 792 square kilometers (305 square miles) in 2023, down from around 1,235 square kilometers in 2022, according to the environment ministry.
Last year Muhamad warned repeatedly that the 2023 success was unlikely to be repeated amid drought and a breakdown in talks with dissident rebels, who the government accuses of fueling illegal logging, road building, and cattle ranching.
Muhamad, who announced her resignation on Sunday but has not yet been replaced, had spearheaded efforts to lower deforestation after levels of destruction in Colombia's Amazon and other ecosystems rose during the administration of former President Ivan Duque.
"The figure in 2024 will be the third-lowest in 23 years," Muhamad told Reuters.
Her resignation over President Gustavo Petro's appointment of a much-questioned advisor is "irrevocable," Muhamad has said.
It is still too early to suggest who might replace her, Muhamad added, saying she is working with her team to leave things ready for her successor.
Muhamad, one of the longest-serving ministers in Petro's cabinet, said in the interview she was most proud of her work on deforestation and on the UN COP16 biodiversity summit, which was held in Colombia late last year.
Negotiations at the summit ended with a plan to charge pharmaceutical and other companies for their use of genetic information in the research and development of new commercial products, but failed to reach a deal on how to mobilize $200 billion annually in conservation funding by 2030.
Muhamad said she hopes to remain in her role until after the reconvened biodiversity talks due to take place later this month in Rome are completed.
(Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
