Abstract
Colombia, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, is entering a peaceful period after more than fifty years of armed conflict. Due to land use changes resulting from this new situation, negative effects on biodiversity, including mammals are expected. We think that mammal populations will be more sensitive in municipalities where activities related to post-conflict will be carried out. In that order, we aim to: 1) identify which mammal species would be more sensitive and 2) identify the critical regions where there is higher richness of sensitive mammals. We used the distributions of 95 mammal taxa and calculated a sensitivity index by combining four factors: 1) the proportion of each species distribution within protected areas in relation to their proposed extinction thresholds, 2) the proportion within post-conflict municipalities, 3) the proportion of five types of potential land use in post-conflict municipalities and 4) the threat status of each species. Using this index, we drew a map of species richness for mammals classified at high-risk and very high-risk categories. Primates were the most sensitive group to post-conflict changes. Urabá and the region near to the Serranía de San Lucas were the areas with the highest richness of sensitive species. We suggest using primates as flagship species to carry out conservation schemes in the post-conflict era in programmes led by local farmers and former fighters who have been reintegrated into civilian life.
Highlights
After more than 50 years of armed conflict in Colombia, the Government and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the oldest guerrilla army from Latin America, signed a peace agreement in 2016
We considered as post-conflict areas, the polygons retrieved from the Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadístca (DANE 2017) of the 170 municipalities, where activities related to rural reform will be carried out to develop the rural economy, according to Decree 893 of 2017 (Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural 2017)
Post is the proportion of the distribution of each species within post-conflict areas and PLU is the proportion of the distribution of each species within a type of potential land use in post-conflict municipalities
Summary
After more than 50 years of armed conflict in Colombia, the Government and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the oldest guerrilla army from Latin America, signed a peace agreement in 2016. It is expected that many people who suffered forced displacement will return to rural areas. This immigration process could represent a risk for biodiversity due to expansion of the agricultural frontier in formerly abandoned lands (Negret et al 2017). Notwithstanding, there are no specific studies analysing the relationship between warfare and mammals population in Colombia
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