Lessons from roads that connect, but also divide

The Amazon covers about 40 percent of Colombia and holds over 60 percent of its natural forests. As one of the world’s major biodiversity reservoirs, the Colombian Amazon plays critical roles in regulating the hydrological cycle, capturing carbon, maintaining regional ecological connectivity, and supporting more than 300 Indigenous and rural communities. Yet, the region is experiencing rapid deforestation, with 113,000 hectares lost in 2021 alone.

Formal and informal road construction is a key driver of this loss. Roads enable colonization, illegal occupation, agricultural expansion, and ecological fragmentation. According to the Sinchi Institute, over 90 percent of deforestation occurs near roads. Despite legal requirements for environmental licenses since 1993, many Amazon roads have been built without them, affecting protected areas and Indigenous territories.

Over the past decade, the Directorate of Environmental, Sectoral and Urban Affairs of Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (Minambiente) has been working with support from the Global Environment Facility-funded, World Bank-managed Heart of the Colombian Amazon project (part of the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program) to ensure territorial connectivity in the region without compromising ecological integrity.

Through dialogue, training, and capacity building, focused on good environmental practices and the use of technical land-use planning instruments, progress has been made towards developing regulated infrastructure adapted to the Amazon – with achievements that have left a positive mark.

Since 2000, Minambiente and Colombia’s Ministry of Transport have established an Interministerial Environmental agenda for joint work. This framework, reinforced by the GEF project has helped integrate environmental criteria into infrastructure planning and investment.

Key tools developed through this work include: the Green Road Infrastructure Guidelines for Colombia, the Amazonian Sustainable Intermodal Transport Plan, the Environmental Management Guide for Tertiary Roads, the Wildlife Crossing Environmental Guide for Linear Infrastructure, and the Environmental Technical Criteria Methodology for Road Prioritization.

Photo credit: Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program

The impact has been tangible. Using the road prioritization tool, 47 percent of the 10,800 kilometers of road segments assessed in the Amazon by 2024 were deemed unsuitable due to their illegality or location in high-priority protected areas.

Two inter-institutional technical committees have been established to guide decision-making in the Amazon.

• The Inter-Institutional Technical Committee supporting the implementation of the National Policy for the Control of Deforestation and Sustainable Forest Management formulated the Protocol for the Closure, Dismantling, and Management of Illegal Roads, approved in 2024. It is currently being implemented in its initial stages at 64 roads in Guaviare, Putumayo, and Caquetá.
• The Inter-Institutional Technical Committee for Transport Infrastructure and Sectoral Activities in the Amazon has served as a key forum for generating technical and scientific analysis to understanding territorial challenges and informing decision-making.

As part of the broader strategy, Minambiente has promoted Memorandums of Understanding between subnational environmental authorities and governments in deforestation hotspots in Guaviare, Putumayo, and Meta. Twelve such MoUs are currently active, supporting land-use planning aligned with green infrastructure. The agreements are reinforced by capacity-building efforts for municipal public on environmental licensing, road prioritization criteria, and green infrastructure.

This work shows that sustainable transport infrastructure is not a technical utopia, but a viable path when political will, deep territorial knowledge, and institutional continuity align.

Key challenges in scaling up these efforts include work to prevent the re-opening of closed illegal roads, or the emergence of new ones. Efforts are also required to mainstream green infrastructure in national engineering, such as through sustainability being taught in universities, embedded in designs, and required in contracts.

Another priority is promoting intermodal transport – the moving of goods using multiple modes of transportation such as ships, trains, and trucks, within the same container or vehicle – as a structural solution, with political will and sustained funding to turn roadmaps into realities.

Efforts are also needed to ensure that local communities are involved in oversight planning, as they play a vital role in territorial protection and need enhanced and sustained participation. All of this also relates to a regional Amazonian vision – as deforestation drivers do not respect borders, agreements with neighboring countries are essential to avoid a “balloon effect” of environmental pressure. 

Photo credit: Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program

In short, Amazonian forests and livelihoods should no longer bear the cost of development interventions. To sustain and expand the progress of the past decade, it is essential to strengthen institutions, apply lessons learned, and enhance cross-sector collaboration. Key steps to ensure this include:

• Institutionally safeguard the tools developed by integrating them into policies, sectoral plans, and investment decisions.
• Consolidate the Inter-Institutional Technical Committees as permanent governance forums, while involving other key sectors.
• Accelerate implementation of the Protocol for the Closure, Dismantling, and Management of Illegal Roads and Airstrips, linking it to community-based restoration projects to promote socially and environmentally viable connectivity alternatives.
• Promote Amazon-wide international cooperation and coordination among existing programs and projects, particularly regarding monitoring, control of illegal roads, and joint territorial management.

This process has been a true exercise in building political coherence among historically disconnected sectors. The progress to date shows that it is possible to envision infrastructure that adapts rather than destroys, that connects rather than divides. In this context, sustainability is not just an ideal: it is a political, technical, and ethical choice.