Presenter: Liliana Duica-Amaya is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she teaches in both the Master of Arts in Latin American Studies program at the School of Foreign Service and the Department of Anthropology. With more than 15 years of consulting experience, Liliana’s research centers on the intersection of land, environment, and violence. Her current work analyzes deforestation patterns in the Amazon, focusing on how agricultural expansion, land grabbing, and cattle ranching drive environmental change. Liliana holds a PhD in Anthropology, master’s degrees in Political Science, Geography, and Anthropology, as well as a BA in Political Science and Government.
Abstract: Illegal resource extraction remains a key driver of deforestation across the Amazon basin. This presentation examines the intertwined dynamics of cattle ranching and road expansion as primary mechanisms of forest loss in the northeastern Colombian Amazon. This region — historically marked by territorial control and land dispossession under the former FARC guerrilla presence — has experienced intensified land grabbing and agro-pastoral frontier expansion in the post-conflict era. These processes blur the distinctions between informal, illegal, and formal economic practices, reflecting broader transformations in regional governance and territorial ordering. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study integrates historical and ethnographic accounts of guerrilla territoriality, quantitative analysis of cattle registry data, and spatial assessment of land-cover change. These methods show that deforestation in Colombian Amazon protected areas is driven by conflicting economic interests, illegal infrastructure growth, and governance disputes.