Report highlights impact of drug trade on rainforest

The impact which the international drugs trade has on the world's rainforests has been highlighted in a new UK government report.

According to findings from the home affairs select committee, the market for cocaine in the UK is leading to devastation in rainforests in Colombia, where large areas are often cleared to make way for plantations to grow the drug.

Chairman of the select committee Keith Vaz said: "We were horrified to learn for every few lines of cocaine snorted in a London club, four square metres of rainforest is destroyed."

Commenting, chief Antonio Maria Costa from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said that while many people in the UK may try and avoid buying clothes made in sweatshops or "blood" diamonds, many are unaware of the impact that the drugs market can have on the planet.

Over 50 per cent of the world's rainforests are in Central or South America and according to UN figures on Monga Bay, Colombia loses almost 200,000 hectares of forest cover every year.

Written by Kimberley Homer.

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