- Title: Wildfires and deforestation prove deadly combination for Bolivia's forests
- Date: 30th August 2019
- Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (AUGUST 30, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIRECTOR OF BOLIVIAN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION PROBIOMA, MIGUEL CRESPO, SAYING: "It's been said that the government said that we must expand agricultural land by 1 million hectares (2,471,054 acres) to satisfy food security and sovereignty. And, all the regulations are added to that, (like) the law of 'forgiveness' (which allowed forested land to be used for agriculture and livestock), the law of additives for ethanol and biodiesel production, the law of increasing fire-fallow cultivation from five to 20 hectares (12 to 49 acres), etc. In reality, this shows that there was an intent to open the agricultural areas in this region despite (the fact that) the land use plan states that it is not a suitable area for agriculture, but rather for forests." NEMBI GUASU CONSERVATION AREA, SANTA CRUZ DEPARTMENT, BOLIVIA (AUGUST 29, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS, FIRE BURNING IN TREE AT NIGHT VARIOUS, FIRE BURNING ON TREES ON GROUND AT NIGHT VARIOUS, SILHOUETTES OF TREES IN SKY
- Embargoed: 13th September 2019 18:15
- Keywords: forest Bolivia conservation deforestation jungle fires Chaco development wildfires Amazon
- Location: NEMBI GUASU CONSERVATION AREA, SANTA CRUZ DEPARTMENT & LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
- City: NEMBI GUASU CONSERVATION AREA, SANTA CRUZ DEPARTMENT & LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
- Country: Bolivia
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA003AUEUW5J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Burning trees could be seen silhouetted against a glowing night sky as fires ravaged Bolivia's Nembi Guasu conservation area late Thursday (August 29).
Bolivian forests are under immense pressure as wildfires have burned uncontained across eastern Bolivia for over a week.
Blazes are burning unabated across vast swaths of hilly tropical forest and savannah near Bolivia's border with Paraguay and Brazil. At least 1 million hectares, or approximately 3,800 square miles, have been impacted by the fires, officials said.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has blamed drought for the fires burning across the Andean nation.The fires in the scrubby forests in Bolvia's southeast are separate from but concurrent to thousands of wildfires also decimating the neighbouring Brazilian Amazon.
Another factor is posing a more long-term menace to forests: deforestation due to the expansion of agriculture in recent decades.
According to Miguel Crespo, the director of Bolivian NGO Probioma, Bolivia's level of deforestation is number one in the world in per capita terms.
Satellite photos provided by Probioma show the creep of agricultural lands into green forests over the past 24 years.
(Production: Santiago Limachi, Monica Machicao) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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