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takyon writes:

Colombian scientists race to study once-forbidden territory before it is lost to development—or new conflict

For decades, the Urabá region, just across the border in [geologist Camilo] Montes's home country, was occupied by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a leftist guerrilla group that had waged war on the Colombian state since 1964. "Those who went in never came out," Montes says. That all changed with a stroke of a pen on 26 September 2016, when Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a peace deal with the FARC. Guerrilla fighters shuttered their jungle camps and handed over their weapons.

Now, Montes and other Colombian scientists are rushing in, exploring the geology of their country, its wealth of species, and how its ecosystems are coping with stresses such as deforestation and climate change. Those forays are risky: Vast areas haven't yet been cleared of land mines (see sidebar), and drug traffickers, paramilitary groups, and non-FARC armed insurgents plague the countryside. But the researchers are seduced by the prospect of prying scientific secrets from huge swaths of land that are no longer off-limits. Urabá's geology, Montes says, "is all a blank slate."

[...] Now that researchers are more free to explore, they are finding that the long conflict had an ecological upside: suppressing development in guerrilla-held territory. FARC fighters deforested some areas to plant coca, but their camps were well hidden and had a light environmental footprint. The violence also deterred farmers and ranchers from encroaching on the wilderness. [...] But the once-occupied ecosystems won't remain pristine for much longer, Link says. "These areas haven't just opened up for scientists," he says. "They've opened up for the whole machinery of development." Deforestation is picking up nationwide, including in Colombia's Amazon region, as farmers clear forest for pastures and crops. In 2016, the last year for which statistics are available, deforestation in Colombia jumped 44%. "The country is experiencing more environmental deterioration than ever before," Link says.

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