The Colombian Amazon is an ecosystem of great importance due to its great natural wealth -fauna, flora, water supply, and ancestral culture-, making it an area that counts with special care by the State. It includes the departments of Amazonas, Caquetá, Cauca, Cauca, Guainía, Guaviare, Meta, a part of northwestern Nariño, Putumayo, and Vichada. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the changes that have been taking place in the forest cover of the Colombian Amazon due to legal mining activities related to the extraction of metals, non-metals, construction materials, and other materials that the area provides, during the period 2002-2014, using the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. The cartographic information was obtained from government entities such as the Colombian Environmental Information System (SIAC by its abbreviation in Spanish) and the Amazonian Institute of Scientific Research (Sinchi). The data was then processed using georeferencing and attribute analysis tools. This information was cross-checked with data available in the National Mining Registry, where the current status and extraction history of each of the mining titles granted between 2002 and 2014 were also verified. Finally, we organized and carried out an analysis of results with statistical tools that made it possible to determine the areas with the greatest change in forest cover, as well as the most-mined material in the area under study, and its relationship with the Amazonian population ring.
