On May 12, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADS), when the XI session of the National Council to Combat Deforestation and Other Environmental Crimes (Conaldef), announced the creation of a new investigation team, the result of the alliance with the Information and Financial Analysis Unit (UIAF), the National Intelligence Board of the Armed Forces of the Ministry of Defense and the Prosecutor's Office. 

The function of this new group of financial analysis specialists is to investigate, identify and follow up on large capitals that may be financing illegal deforestation in Colombian territory, to protect natural resources and preserve the country's rich biodiversity.

The strengthening of criminal investigative activity through this alliance reinforces one of the pillars of the strategy against deforestation in the country, along with the pillar of the work carried out with communities surrounding or living within the areas most affected by deforestation.

What MADS seeks is to implement a strategy to contain deforestation that is comprehensive, that is, that allows covering all links in the deforestation chain, from the identification of those directly responsible (the "ghost landowners", the land grabbers, those who profit from illegal sales) to those who finance these activities with legal or illegal capital. 

So far in 2023, according to information from the Directorate of Carabineros, 1,561 people were captured for environmental crimes and 13,492 cubic meters of illegal wood were seized.