progress
186,500 square miles of Amazon now off-limits to drilling
He had three days left. He used them.
Three days before he left office, Colombian President Gustavo Petro signed a resolution placing 186,500 square miles of the Amazon off-limits to any new mining, oil or gas extraction. The August 4, 2026 timing was deliberate. His successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, had campaigned on reviving oil exploration and legalizing fracking, and took office on August 7. The government reached back more than 50 years to invoke Article 47 of the Natural Resources Code, a statute that lets the state exclude an entire region from private exploitation. It had been used before, in smaller pieces, never across the whole Colombian Amazon at once. Existing operations continue until their contracts expire. What is closed is renewal. Of the protected area, 55% consists of indigenous reserves, which retain 99.5% of their forest cover intact. Where indigenous communities manage the land, the forest fares better than anywhere else. That is not a talking point. There is recorded evidence to support it.
