Special Operations Forces

Sony VR Launches Air Force Special Ops Nightfall

Ever wonder what it is like to launch yourself from an aircraft in flight? Well, if you’re not a paratrooper or a special operations soldier, you can now get the entire virtual reality experience in a new game by Sony. The company has released Air Force Special Ops Nighfall for PlayStation VR.

In the new game, players get to conduct a High Altitude, Low Opening (HALO) jump out of a C-130 and perform a follow-on mission after the landing. And of course, wearing the VR goggles increases the players’ experience.

Created in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force, players will do H.A.L.O. (High Altitude Low Opening) free fall jumps, being in control of the parachute during a night landing; and a subsequent simulated mission According to the Air Force, the game is a realistic look at what it is like to be in Special Ops.
“I had a chance to play Nightfall on the new PlayStation VR,” said Master Sgt. Ben Hannigan, a combat controller with the Air Force. “It is so realistic I could almost smell the airplane and feel the wind. In free-fall, play controls simulate movements to maneuver in the sky. After your parachute opens, you control your speed and direction to stay with your team. They added some fun with gates to fly through and enemy targets to identify. It may be as realistic as you can get without actually jumping from a C-130.”

The Air Force cooperated with Sony on this project and MSG Hannigan was assigned to helping Sony work out any of the kinks with the realism of the game and to give pointers along the way. Players can choose from four career fields: combat control, pararescue, special operations weather and tactical air control party.

The timing of this release is curious, it is obviously a recruiting tool for the Air Force’s Special Operations Command (AFSOC). But with the Navy cracking down on SEALs doing the same thing for different games and the Pentagon wanting its SOF personnel to limit their exposure while on active duty, this won’t go over well with the other services.

To read the entire article from The Shack News, click here:

Photo courtesy US Air Force

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.17.2017

Monday starts a new week, and we’ll continue with UBRR preparation. Start off with push-ups, sit-ups, and crunches, then to the bar for V-ups, pull-ups, and dips before a 5-mile run. Remember to stay hydrated and mark your progress in your workout log book.

Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

2 x 20 Pushups

2 x 30 Sit-ups

2 x 30 Crunches

2 x 10, V-ups

2 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure

2 x Pullups as many as possible or to muscle failure

5-mile run

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.16.2017

Sunday morning rucksack march. Do a quick warm up of pushups and sit-ups before heading out. Head out over varied terrain and try to go as fast as you can without running.

Stretch well both before and after the event. Remember to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated out there. With the heat of the warm weather months upon us, you don’t want to go down with a heat related injury. And if you do it will really set you back in your preparation.

Training:

Warm up

1 x 20 Pushups

1 x 20 Sit ups

10-mile Rucksack march over varied terrain with a 45-pound minimum. Go as hard and fast as you can without jogging. And mark your times in your workout log book.

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.15.2017

It is a foggy Saturday morning here so it is a perfect time to go to the gym for a shoulder and back workout. Towel pull-ups if you have no access to climbing ropes. Followed by a five-mile run. Log your numbers down in the workout notebook

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 10 Lat Pull downs, rear

3 x 10 Barbell Dead Lift

3 x 10 Wide Grip Pull-ups

3 x 10 Towel Pullups

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Seated Bent-Over Delt Raise

3 x 10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 10 Arnold Dumbbell Press

5-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Medics Build Trust, Rapport With Locals

The Special Operations medics, officially known as Special Operations Medical Sergeants are an extremely valuable resource for the both the operational unit and the host nation’s military and civilian populace.

The popular depiction of a Special Operations trooper is that of a warrior diplomat. And no one epitomizes that better than the medics. In the Unconventional Warfare (UW) role, gaining the trust of the civilian populace is paramount.

The training is long and very difficult. The medic course MOS portion of the training pipeline takes about 50 weeks to complete. Medical sergeants specialize in trauma management, infectious diseases, cardiac life support and surgical procedures, with a basic understanding of veterinary and dental medicine. Both general health care and emergency health care are stressed in training.

Medical sergeants provide emergency, routine and long-term medical care for detachment members and associated allied members and host-nation personnel. They establish field medical facilities to support unconventional warfare operations, provide veterinary care, and prepare the medical portion of area studies, brief backs and operation plans and orders.

Besides attending the 250 days of advanced medical training, medics will spend two months on a trauma rotation in hospital emergency rooms. The medical-training phase includes a nationally accredited emergency medical technician paramedic program.

While medics in the conventional military are unarmed, the Special Operations medics are fully integrated members of the team and trained and carry the same weapons systems as the rest of the team. However, contrary to what the medics will tell their teammates, they’re not automatically the best shots on the team!

Besides being the best combat medics in the world, and they’re frequently as well-trained as many of the medical doctors in the Third World. Medics can set up a clinic in the middle of a village and teach the locals about taking care of common medical maladies and the prevention of diseases. They are also able to diagnose and treat many of these same diseases that wreck third world countries.

Medics frequently perform minor surgery, set broken bones, deliver babies, and help locals with pediatric care. They can perform minor dentistry are often the best source veterinarian care that the local populace will see in their lifetimes.

Their duty description is long and shows the level of training that is needed to pass the course is staggering:

Provide initial medical screening and evaluation of allied and indigenous personnel
Provide examination and care to detachment members
Supervise medical care and treatment during missions
Operate a combat laboratory and treat emergency and trauma patients
Develop and provide medical intelligence as required

Serving as a member of a Special Operations unit is not always about combat — often, it involves working with the indigenous people as well as the host nation’s military forces to provide them the training and expertise to secure a future.

And many times, it will be the medic who plays a lead role in building rapport and trust between the indigenous population and U.S. forces. The caring of livestock, delivering babies, treating a host of diseases and sicknesses in the local population will go a long way in helping the locals get over their distrust of the US or coalition troops in an area.

When the United States was supporting several counter-narcotics operations in the Andean Ridge countries, bases were set up with host nation forces along with US Army Special Forces and Navy SEALs. Working in conjunction with DEA and other American government agencies, the special operations forces and host nations had the difficult job of trying to eradicate the illegal drug trade.

The local farmers and people looked upon the Americans as the enemy. As the people who were trying to stop them from putting food on their tables. As a side note, it is important to note that in many areas, the growing of the coca plant is not illegal. The locals have been growing it for centuries and there is a valid legal market for it as tea and medicine. The growing areas of the Chapare and Beni regions of Bolivia are about the size of New Jersey.

The narco-traffickers convinced the farmers that the “gringos” were here to starve them out. Often, there would be demonstrations outside the bases with Campesinos blocking the roads and throwing quarter sticks of dynamite. How did the US counter these? With the medics.

Politics would take a back seat to necessity. Medics would run a sick call and at times it would stretch far down the road. Women would walk for miles over mountain paths to have their children born in the “gringo hospital” on the base. Sick children and people injured during the logging season were frequent guests of the base.

These sick calls to the clinic were a great rapport building opportunity for the teams. Some of the people protesting the US presence a week before were back and asking for help treating their sick children and wives. The gringos weren’t the ogres they were made out to be after all and some people were so grateful, they named their children after the medics who delivered them.

Special Forces medics in the Chapare area of Bolivia alone were responsible for a tremendous amount of goodwill. The local counter-narcotic troops (UMOPAR) started having their families show up as well.

During the civil war in El Salvador, the border region with Honduras was at times a dangerous place. The mountainous area was frequently a place where the militaries of both countries were not particularly known for their respect for human rights. As usual, it was the farmers who were caught in the middle.

SOCOM tried to bolster the Honduran government’s image in this area by sending in Humanitarian Assistance Teams. US Army doctors, dentists, veterinarians along with Honduran medical teams and a bunch of Special Forces medics would visit the area where the locals had never seen any of the specialists mentioned above.

The Honduran faces would be put out front although the US would do the heavy lifting and use helicopter assets to airlift the teams to visit various locations in the country. Honduran infantry with a sprinkling of SF troops provided the security.

PSYOP teams dropped leaflets in the areas to tell the locals about the coming of the teams. On the last one, about 500-750 locals were expected. But the word had gotten out. Nearly 10,000 people showed up in this tiny village. What was supposed to be a one-day operation, turned into a 3-day marathon. The medics, as usual, did the heavy lifting. There were much more of them than doctors and they gained tremendous respect and rapport for our follow-on operations.

The lines were so long to be seen, the rest of the SF guys were pressed into service helping with inoculations, dentistry, and veterinary work. On-the-job training as a dentist…Just call me “Painless”, but that is a story for another time.

A successful mission of Special Operations doesn’t always come at the tip of the spear, although at times that is exactly what is needed. For those times when the opposite approach is needed, the medics can be the most valuable members of the team.

Photo courtesy of US Army

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.14.2017

Back to the gym this Friday morning. It is Chest and Triceps day and then a 5-mile run. Remember to stretch well before and after and to stay hydrated. Mark your progress down in your workout log book.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Bench Press

3 x 10 Dumbbell Flies

3 x 10 Dumbbell Incline Press

3 x 20 Pushups (alternate sets with wide, narrow and shoulder width)

3 x 10 ‘V’ Ups

3 x 20 Sit Ups

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

5-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Virginia Hall, The Famous “Limping Lady” of the OSS

The story of Virginia Hall reads like the script of a Hollywood spy film, except that her exploits were true. She was an operative for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), later the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and finally the CIA.

Despite the loss of her lower leg in a hunting accident, Hall was a daring operative who was hunted and feared by the Gestapo, the German secret police during World War II. The Germans published wanted posters of a woman matching her description, this “unknown woman with a limp” who set up and operated resistance networks, set up drop zones for air drops of critical supplies of equipment, reported on German troop movements, trained three battalions of French Resistance fighters for sabotage missions. And much more.

The German Gestapo’s orders were quite clear on this unknown woman. Putting all their known double-agents on trying to learn her identity, they said, “She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.”

So, who was this “unknown woman with a limp” who was so dangerous to the Germans? Some of her code names were “Marie Monin”, “Germaine”, “Diane”, “Camille”, and even “Nicolas”, but this extraordinary brave woman was just known to her friends as Virginia Hall.

Hall was born in a well-to-do family in Baltimore in 1906 and studied languages at Radcliffe and at Barnard College. Finishing her studies abroad, she attended schools in France, Germany, and Austria before landing a job as an American Consular Service clerk at the American Embassy in Warsaw, Poland. She wanted to become a Foreign Service Officer but those hopes were dashed after she lost her lower leg in a hunting accident.

Rejected in her quest, she resigned from the State Department in 1939 and immediately was recruited for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). While fleeing France after its fall from the German invasion in 1940, she met a British SOE operative in a chance meeting on the train. She was recruited and would become the first woman SOE operative sent into France.

And despite her missing leg, she quickly mastered the lessons of weapons, explosives, communications, the training of resistance groups and security. The British smuggled her in Lyon which was part of the Vichy French territory where she quickly developed contacts with the French resistance groups and helped smuggle Allied escaped POWs out of France. She worked under the cover as a reporter for the New York Post.

Forged French papers for Virginia Hall during her days as an operative for the OSS in WWII

Her work was successful for two years until the Americans invaded North Africa during Operation Torch late in 1942. In response, the Germans occupied the remainder of Vichy France and Hall now had to get out or face certain death.

To get out, she had to cross the Pyrenees Mountains on foot, something that would be daunting in itself but for a woman walking with an artificial leg she nicknamed “Cuthbert”, it was even more difficult. Her leg was giving her problems, which she radioed to her superiors in London. The reply: “If Cuthbert is giving you difficulty, have him eliminated.”

Arriving in Spain with no papers landed Hall in Figueres Prison for six weeks until a freed inmate smuggled a letter from Hall to the American embassy. Released she was given a new cover as a correspondent for the Chicago Times.

Hall grew restless with an assignment she felt was not accomplishing anything and made her feelings on the subject known. “I thought I could help in Spain, but I’m not doing a job,” Hall said. “I am living pleasantly and wasting time. It isn’t worthwhile and after all, my neck is my own. If I am willing to get a crick in it, I think that’s my prerogative.”

Upon returning to London, King George VI made Virginia a Member of the Order of the British Empire. It was then that Hall found out about the American OSS and she quickly joined and asked for an immediate reassignment back into France.

She was assigned to the OSS’ Special Operations Branch. Unable to parachute in due to her missing leg as was the normal infiltration method, OSS got her smuggled inside Brittany aboard a British PT boat where she immediately made contact with the French Underground. Under the code name “Diane”, Hall went to work.

While working in the Haute-Loire region of central France, Hall disguised herself as an elderly milkmaid, dying her hair gray, shuffling her feet to hide her limp and wearing full skirts to add weight to her frame. The Germans were aware of her activities and were desperate to home in and track her radio signals. As a result, she constantly moved her location to barns throughout the area.

Virginia Hall with OSS operatives in France during WWII. On the far right is Paul Goillot who became her husband in 1950.

Hall was being hunted by none other than Klaus Barbie, “The Butcher of Lyon” who was later convicted of war crimes. The Germans and Barbie believed Hall who was codenamed “Artemis” by the Nazis was a Canadian. “I’d give anything to lay my hands on that Canadian bitch,” Barbie said. It was not to be.

She and her group mapped drop zones for supplies and commandos from England, found safe houses, and linked up with a Jedburgh team after the Allies landed at Normandy. Hall helped train three battalions of Resistance forces to wage guerrilla warfare against the Germans and they were very successful. In the buildup to and the immediate aftermath of D-Day, Hall’s resistance group destroyed four bridges, derailed several freight trains, severed a key rail line in multiple places and downed telephone lines. They were also credited with killing some 150 Germans and capturing 500 more.

Finally, American troops pushed the Germans back thru her area in September 1944 and her time as an operative in occupied France was at an end. Upon hearing her exploits, President Harry S. Truman wanted to award Hall the Distinguished Service Cross, the only time in World War II it has been awarded to a civilian. But Hall asked that General William “Wild Bill” Donovan, the wartime head of the OSS present it to her.

Donovan presented the medal to Hall in a small private ceremony in his office, attended only by her mother…at her request. Hall personified the “Quiet Professional” mantra before it was even a forethought. Hall was reluctant to capitalize on any fame or notoriety regarding her time in France as the cost in human lives during the operations weighed heavily on her. She simply said, “It was just six years of my life.”

One of the OSS operators who parachuted into France in 1944 Paul Goillot, became her husband in 1950. They both went to work for the CIA, Hall becoming an analyst in 1951. She retired from the service in 1966. Hall passed away in 1982 at the age of 76.

“Virginia Hall is a true hero of the French Resistance,” wrote French President Jacques Chirac in a letter written to Hall’s family when she was honored by both the French and British governments.

Hall’s story is one of courage, perseverance and indomitable will. The CIA named a training facility after her, “The Virginia Hall Expeditionary Center.” A portrait that they commissioned of her hangs in the agency’s headquarters in Langley, VA.

Photos courtesy DOD, CIA

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.13.2017

Chest and Triceps workout in the gym and then hit the trails for a 4-mile run. Remember to stretch well before and after and to stay hydrated. Mark your progress down in your workout log book.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Bench Press

3 x 10 Dumbbell Flies

3 x 10 Dumbbell Incline Press

3 x 20 Pushups (alternate sets with wide, narrow and shoulder width)

3 x 10 ‘V’ Ups

3 x 20 Sit ups

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

4-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Ranger Leroy Petry Awarded the Medal of Honor July 12, 2011

On this date, July 12, 2011, SFC Leroy Petry was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama in a White House ceremony attended by his family and those of his fellow soldiers. Petry was assigned to the 2nd Bn. 75th Ranger Regiment based in Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.

Petry’s actions took place on his eighth deployment, two in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and six in Afghanistan supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. He had served in a number of positions in the Rangers, including as a grenadier, squad automatic rifleman, fire team leader, squad leader, operations sergeant, and a weapons squad leader.

Medal of Honor action During a Rare Daylight Raid:

On May 26, 2008, SSG Petry and his unit D Company, 2nd Bn., were on a mission in Paktia Province in Afghanistan. The mission was a rare daylight raid to capture a high-value target from the Taliban. Petry and the platoon headquarters was to occupy the target building once it was secured.

The 70 Rangers immediately came into contact with about 40 Taliban after getting out of the helicopters on the target. The Taliban insurgents quickly took the Rangers under heavy fire. Petry took charge of an assaulting squad as they were clearing a building, and after it was secure, he and PFC Lucas Robinson went to clear an outer courtyard.

The courtyard had a chicken coop inside it as well as three Taliban insurgents. The Taliban fighters were only 15-20 feet away when they opened up on the pair as they came into view. Both were wounded. Petry was hit by one round that went through both his legs and Robinson was hit on the armor plate protecting his side.

Petry led Robinson to the concealment behind the 8-foot tall chicken coop and radioed for assistance before throwing a thermobaric grenade over the wall. The Taliban responded in kind by tossing grenades over the wall at the Americans. Petry and Robinson were joined by SGT Daniel Higgins, who assessed the wounds of the two soldiers.

The first grenade lobbed by the Taliban at their position landed just 30 feet away. The blast knocked all three Rangers to the ground, wounding Higgins and wounding Robinson a second time.

Running to the sound of battle to support their fellow Rangers, SSG James Roberts and SP4 Christopher Gathercole raced up to their three wounded comrades. It was then that a Taliban fighter threw another grenade, which landed only a few feet away from Higgins and Robinson. Petry didn’t hesitate, going against his instinct for self-survival he picked up the grenade and attempted to throw it back into the direction of the Taliban.

Petry later in an interview recalled his immediate reaction was “get it out of here, get it away from the guys and myself. And I reached over, leaned over to the right, grabbed it with my hand, and I threw it as hard as I could, what I thought was at the time. And as soon as I opened my hand to let it go, it just exploded instantly. And I came back, and the hand was completely severed off.”

The explosion from the grenade amputated his right hand and sprayed his body with shrapnel. But by putting himself in harm’s way, Petry likely saved the two other soldiers from serious injury or death.

Petry coolly placed a tourniquet on his right arm. And then to the amazement of his fellow Rangers, he didn’t concern himself with his own wounds, he directed his troops and continued to give orders.

“I didn’t feel any pain,” Petry said. “It was odd. When I sat back up and saw my hand … I grabbed where my wrist was, and it was completely gone. I was waiting for the Hollywood squirt, blood to go flying in the air, but that didn’t happen. Then I went back to my military training, applied the tourniquet that I had.”

Roberts placed accurate fire on the Taliban fighters, suppressing them in the courtyard. However, another Taliban fighter on the east end of the courtyard fired, fatally wounding Gathercole, before Higgins and Robinson returned fire, killing that fighter.

The Rangers were then joined by the unit’s platoon sergeant, SFC Jerod Staidle, and their medic, SP4 Gary Depriest. Ignoring his own wounds, Petry ordered Depriest to treat Gathercole. He was then finally assisted by Staidle and Higgins to the casualty collection point.

As he was being evacuated, Petry’s Rangers marveled at his bravery and coolness under fire. One his Rangers came up to shake Petry’s other hand. This fellow Ranger later said that it was the first time he had shaken the hand of a “true American hero.”

Recovery and a Return to Duty:

Petry’s wounds resulted in his right arm having to be amputated below the elbow. He was evacuated to an American hospital in Germany, where he spent several weeks in recovery before being transferred to Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, Texas.

He now uses an advanced prosthetic in place of his right hand. His prosthetic has special attachments that allow him to play golf, use cutlery and cook and do most anything he could prior to that day in Afghanistan. On the prosthetic is a small plaque listing the names of the fallen Rangers of his regiment. Dating back to Grenada, Petry carries a reminder with him of his Regiment’s heroes.

After recovering, Petry did not seek a medical discharge and elected to remain on active duty. He was told by the command that they were recommending him for the Medal of Honor.

Petry received the Medal of Honor from U.S. President Barack Obama on July 12, 2011, in a ceremony at the White House. He is the ninth recipient for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. Petry later in 2011 attended the Medal of Honor ceremony of U.S. Marine Sergeant Dakota Meyer, the third living recipient of the medal since Vietnam.

The following is the remarks that President Obama made at Petry’s ceremony when he awarded him the Medal.

Every human impulse would tell someone to turn away. Every soldier is trained to seek cover. That’s what Sergeant Leroy Petry could have done. Instead, this wounded Ranger, this 28-year-old man with his whole life ahead of him, this husband and father of four, did something extraordinary. He lunged forward, toward the live grenade. He picked it up. He cocked his arm to throw it back.

What compels such courage? What leads a person to risk everything so that others might live? For answers, we don’t need to look far. The roots of Leroy’s valor are all around us.

We see it in the sense of duty instilled by his family, who joins us today —- his father Larry, his mother Lorella, and his four brothers. Growing up, the walls of their home were hung with pictures of grandfathers and uncles in uniform, leading a young Leroy to believe “that’s my calling, too.”

We see it in the compassion of a high school student who overcame his own struggles to mentor younger kids to give them a chance. We see it in the loyalty of an Army Ranger who lives by a creed: “Never shall I fail my comrades.” Or as Leroy puts it, “These are my brothers —- family just like my wife and kids —- and you protect the ones you love.” And that’s what he did that day when he picked up that grenade and threw it back —- just as it exploded.

With that selfless act, Leroy saved his two Ranger brothers, and they are with us today. His valor came with a price. The force of the blast took Leroy’s right hand. Shrapnel riddled his body. Said one of his teammates, “I had never seen someone hurt so bad.” So even his fellow Rangers were amazed at what Leroy did next. Despite his grievous wounds, he remained calm. He actually put on his own tourniquet. And he continued to lead, directing his team, giving orders —- even telling the medics how to treat his wounds.

When the fight was won, as he lay in a stretcher being loaded onto a helicopter, one of his teammates came up to shake the hand that Leroy had left. “That was the first time I shook the hand of someone who I consider to be a true American hero,” that Ranger said. Leroy Petry “showed that true heroes still exist and that they’re closer than you think.” Sua Sponte

Photo Courtesy: The White House

Deforestation Running Rampant in Colombia After FARC Demobilization

Colombia has seen an alarming surge in deforestation since the peace deal with the terrorist organization FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) was signed in 2016.

The amount of deforestation in the country jumped 44% in 2016 to 178,597 hectares (690 square miles) compared to 2015 according to official figures released this month – and most of the destruction was in remote rainforest areas once controlled by the FARC guerrillas.

The guerrillas placed severe limits on the amount of logging that was allowed in areas under their control. It was mainly a self-serving move as the heavy forest protected and shielded the guerrillas from air attacks by the Colombian Air Force.

But last year, as the FARC began to move toward demobilization, criminal groups moved in, taking advantage of the vacuum left behind to promote illegal logging and mining and cattle ranching. Civilians who had been ordered by the FARC to maintain 20% of their land with forest cover began expanding their farms.
“The FARC would limit logging to two hectares a year in the municipality,” said Jaime Pacheco, mayor of the town of Uribe, in eastern Meta province. “In one week [last year], 100 hectares were cleared and there is little we can do about it.”
Over their 53-year existence, the FARC were far from environmental angels. While in some areas the guerrilla presence helped maintain the forests, in others the rebels promoted clear-cuts to make way for the planning of coca, the raw material used in cocaine, or illegal gold mining, both a source of income for the group.
Bombings of oil pipelines dumped millions of gallons of oil in waterways and jungles. Between 1991 and 2013, 58% of the deforestation in Colombia was seen in conflict areas, according to a 2016 report by Colombia’s planning ministry.
“They weren’t environmentalists but they did regulate activity, and – since they had the guns – people complied,” says Susana Muhamad, an environmental activist who conducted a diagnostic study of the environmental risks of the rebel retreat.
“We told the government that it would need to establish control in these areas quickly, but it hasn’t,” she said. “It’s like the wild west now, a land rush.”
Colombia, which has the world’s eighth-largest forest cover, committed under the Paris climate accords to reaching zero net deforestation by 2020 and halting the loss of all natural forest by 2030.
Norway is donating about $3.5m over two years to a pilot project that hopes to stem deforestation by offering paid jobs to former FARC fighters and communities to safeguard forests by tracking and reporting illegal logging, adopting sustainable farming methods and undertaking eco-tourism projects.
“We hope this project can be the way for more activities whereby peace comes with green dividends,” said Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s environment minister, on a recent visit to Colombia.
That is the kind of incentive farmers in the town of Uribe, once a FARC stronghold, say they need to keep the forest on their land intact. “We are willing to leave the forests if we get some sort of subsidy to do it,” one farmer, Noel Segura, said in a phone interview.

With the civil war now a thing of the past, logging companies are rushing to claim areas once held by the FARC and some citizens are worried that the area will suffer irreparable damage.

To read the entire article from The Guardian, click here:

Photo courtesy Colombia Edu.