- Title: Wildfires and deforestation prove deadly combination for Bolivia's forests
- Date: 30th August 2019
- Summary: NEMBI GUASU CONSERVATION AREA, SANTA CRUZ DEPARTMENT, BOLIVIA (AUGUST 29, 2019) (REUTERS) FIRE BURNING IN BRUSH IN FOREST AT NIGHT SILHOUETTES OF TREES WITH FIRE IN BACKGROUND AT NIGHT SMOKE AND EMBERS RISING FROM FIRE VARIOUS, FIRE BURNING IN FOREST VARIOUS, SILHOUETTES OF TREES AGAINST GLOW OF FIRE AT NIGHT VARIOUS, LOG BURNING TREES WITH SMOKE BLOWING BY FIRE BURNING VARIOUS, PARTS OF TREES BURNING TOP OF TREE BURNING VARIOUS, TREES ON GROUND BURNING SMOKE RISING FROM TREE TRUNK LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (AUGUST 30, 2019) (REUTERS) DIRECTOR OF BOLIVIAN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION PROBIOMA, MIGUEL CRESPO, IN OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIRECTOR OF BOLIVIAN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION PROBIOMA, MIGUEL CRESPO, SAYING: "Regarding deforestation, Bolivia is in first place in the world in relation to its per capita by person. We are among the ten most deforested countries in the world. So this shows that with this disaster (wildfires), we have obviously moved into the top places in the world."
- 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: LVA001AUEUW5J
- 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
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
