WAR ON DRUGS THREATENS FRAGILE ECOSYSTEMS

A bird species that is new to science was documented by researchers
this year.

The Yariguies brush-finch, with a yellow underside, black back and
spike-like red feathers on its head, was discovered in Colombia. The
name comes from the indigenous people who once lived in the mountains
where it was found.

Although it is increasingly unusual to discover new vertebrate
species, it is not surprising that such an event should happen in Colombia.

Colombia is about three times the size of Montana and is home to
approximately 1,800 bird species. That is more than the number of bird
species found in the U.S. and Canada combined and represents nearly 20
percent of all the bird species alive today worldwide.

Colombia's great diversity of habitats, from lowland rainforests to
the peaks of the Andes Mountains, has made it a hotbed for the
evolution of new species.

Many North Americans associate Colombia not with biological richness,
however, but with drugs. Our mental pictures include fields of the
coca plants used to produce cocaine, drug-related violence, and drug
"mules", people who carry packets of cocaine in their bodies to
countries where the drug is sold.

The U.S.A.'s efforts to fight the impact of drugs in our country have
included aerial spraying of herbicide on coca fields in Colombia.
While these efforts have killed many coca plants, they have also
resulted in the defoliation of nearby food crops and native forest.

In work published this year, Joseph Messina and Paul Delamater of
Michigan State University's Center for Global Change and Earth
Observations demonstrated that 85,000 more acres of land were affected
by herbicide spraying in 2001-02 than reported by the United Nations
Drug Control Program. The U.N. estimates are reported to Congress and
used in deliberations as to whether more spraying should occur.

From an economic standpoint, misdirected herbicide applications
result in the loss of food and legal cash crops by local farmers. They
may also negatively influence biodiversity by destroying habitats
important to plant and animal species.

Species inhabiting tropical areas like Colombia often have very small
geographic ranges. If a species is found in a limited number of
forested sites and those sites are defoliated by herbicide, it may be
a severe setback for that species.

Unlike the Yariguies brush-finch, many tropical species remain unknown
to science. And unlike the Yariguies brush-finch, whose home was
recently declared a national park by the Colombian government, many of
these unknown species may go extinct before we have even put a name to
them.

Illicit drugs are linked to many social ills we face today. However,
we must fully understand the costs and benefits of our efforts to
control illicit drugs if we are to make informed decisions about
whether to support such efforts or not.