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Citizen-driven initiatives in Bolivia struggle to tackle the devastating annual forest fires with little support from the government, whose economic plans encourage the persistence of this type of disaster.
Image credits: https://www.rightsofnaturetribunal.org/cases/ecocide-in-the-amazon-and-chiquitania-case/
Not a sound in Yolosa. Only the tic tac of the gentle drizzle over the leaves of the tall trees, falling as slowly as heavy tears passing through every subtle wrinkle. In the cold air, the shout of the howler monkeys announces the start of a new day; all wildlife embark on their daily routine. In the distance, the imposing sound of the river as it flows by: “Cuando el río suena es por que piedras lleva,” “When the river rumbles, it's because it carries stones,” says the popular bolivian expression. In the past few weeks, uncontrollable wildfires ravaged the east of Bolivia. Despair and indignation took over the entire country: protests in the 9 departments; governmental and international demands were made. More than 6 million hectares were lost in the fires of perhaps one of the epicenters of the fight against climate change: the Bolivian Amazon and dry forest Chiquitanía.
Local communities, environmental organizations and volunteers work to prevent and fight the forest fires with very limited resources: la Senda Verde, a non-governmental wildlife refuge in a small town in the west of Bolivia, struggles to receive and treat the growing number of injured animals that have escaped the fires. “The government never helped the centers of [animal] custody,” says Vicky Ossio, the co-founder of the refuge.
The forest fires have become an awaited event that outperforms itself year after year in the zone of the dry forest Chiquitanía in the east of Bolivia. Since the early 2000, the Bolivian government has passed laws condoning wildfires and promoting the expansion of the agricultural frontier over the Amazon and other major protected areas like the Chiquitanía.
Image credits: https://www.magriturismo.com/en/tours/los-yungas-senda-verde/
As Bolivians, we grew up listening to the speech about taking care of our “Pachamama”, our “Madre Tierra”. The land and what it gives are sacred, and Bolivians give thanks every year for what it provides. There’s a lot of importance given to traditions like “la ch’alla”, where seeds, flower petals, and other offerings are given to the land to show gratitude for what it has provided during the year and ask it to be good to them in this new coming one.
Image credits: https://sendaverde.org/
The Bolivian idiosyncrasy is deeply rooted with the cohabitation and respect of nature. Centuries have passed but the ideology is still very present in Bolivian society. Not so far from La Paz, the political capital of the country, an independent animal refuge, La Senda Verde, “The Green Path”, will soon celebrate its 20 years. The owners, the couple Virginia Ossio and Marcelo Levy never thought they would end up taking care of more than 1000 animals in the middle of the tropical paradise of Yolosita: their love of the animals and willingness to help in this concerning situation of animal trafficking in the zone led them to launch this project after their retirement, altering their livelong plans. “We created La Senda Verde as a space for families to admire nature,” recalls Vicky, the co-founder.
The opening of the refuge brought a lot of unexpected events in the following years. Against all odds, the yearly wildfires happening to the other side of the country have greatly impacted the refuge. Since 2019 the number of new animals in La Senda Verde has increased, and it’s pushing the refuge to its limits.
The proportion of wildfires in Bolivia has grown progressively since the 50’s, but things really got out of control in 2019. This was not a surprise for the environmental organizations: the Bolivian government has been promoting a series of laws that were intended to help clear the land for agricultural use since 2012. “Before 2012, 90% of deforestation was illegal. Since then, the number of deforestation permits has increased. Today we have about the same proportion of illegal burning plus an equivalent amount of legal fires,” said Stanislaw Czaplicki Cabezas, an expert at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
In 2015, deforestation skyrocketed to over 200%. The production of soybeans for agrofuel Ethanol and biodiesel got heavily subsidized. According to former hydrocarbons minister Luis Alberto Sánchez, the agricultural frontier should be expanded by 250,000 hectares and 4 million hectares for soybeans (America Economía, 2019). This would be extremely significant as it would represent an expansion of the agricultural frontier by about 10%, which would potentially be done over the Amazon rainforest in Santa Cruz (Eva Cajigas, 2019).
Image credits: https://ipsnoticias.net/2019/08/bolivia-rostro-escondido-del-infierno-la-amazonia/
This new wave of fires is no longer associated with “chaqueos” as before. This very ancient and ceremonial technique has the small-scale benefits of fixing micronutrients to the soil, allowing a good harvest during the first years of cultivation. The government used "chaqueos" as an excuse and justification for the huge fires set by large landowners and agro-industries to clear land for their monocultures or to feed livestock, and to implement laws protecting them.
“We have seen an exponential increment of the massive land clearing that consists in intervening a forest area with heavy tractors, letting the place dry for some months and finally burning the land.” said Czaplicki Cabezas. “Mechanized agriculture and livestock farming do not create jobs. There is a mistaken belief that they contribute to food security, but about half of our cultivated land is devoted to feeding livestock and poultry.”
“We sent brigades in 2019 and 2021,” says Vicky. “The idea is to build temporary clinics to heal the animals in place.”
An estimated 6 million animals died in the fires in 2019. “In 2019 we expected to find way more animals. The fires were so destructive that most of them died in place,” says Vicky. La Senda Verde received some new animals ranging from howling monkeys, to anteaters that have escaped the fires by miracle.
Like most of the wildlife refuges in the country, La Senda Verde barely receives economic help from the government and survives thanks to the help of visitors, volunteers and donors. 2020 arrived with the COVID-19 Pandemic which forced the refuge to close its doors obeying governmental regulations but also by fear of transmitting the virus to other species. Since then, this and other sites are struggling to survive this very adverse economic situation. “Fortunately, the people are very generous and never forgot about us.”
The evolution of the situation is very discouraging, according to expert Jorge Campanini.
“The fact that the prices of gasoline and diesel were greatly subsidized by the government, as well as the enactment of a law that reduced to 0 the tax rate for importing heavy machinery in 2019 created favorable conditions for the increase in deforestation.” For Jorge Campanini, subsidizing gasoline would basically be equivalent to financing the soya production.
In that same year, the government signed a protocol to deliver meat to China for the next 5 years, triggering an even greater need to expand the agricultural frontier to plant grass to feed livestock. “Bolivia wants to become a country with farming potential,” says Campanini. The new development program towards 2025 shows the intention of the country to increase the amount of livestock from 11 million that we have to 18 million in only 5 years.
“The fires in Bolivia were caused by corporate interests of the agribusiness, the soybean growers, and sugarcane. It’s no coincidence that that same year the government decreed the [meat] exportation to China,” says Vicky.
These economic signals would make one believe that agriculture and livestock are the principal economic engines of the country, but the reality is another: “the most profitable business in Bolivia is not the benefits generated by agriculture and cattle ranching but the expectation of revenue. Many find fortune in land speculation: There are companies that officially specialize in livestock and agricultural production but whose core business is land retailing. They buy land worth $120 per hectare, clear it and sell it for $1,500 in one or two years, and farmers buy hoping to find wealth in this promising business. Even powerful international actors get into the land retailing business.” says Stanislaw.
Image credits: https://www.laregion.bo/en-riesgo-camion-de-bomberos-quebracho-por-falta-de-us-30-mil/
Meanwhile, small citizen-driven initiatives like La Senda Verde struggle to deal with a substantial share of the problem, often to their own expense and with extremely limited government assistance.
Only some months ago, the central government enacted a law declaring that the only competent entity to give official information about deforestation was itself. As time passes, information about the wildfires and deforestation is becoming increasingly limited causing the fragmentation of the strong environmental coalition around the 2019 disaster, and our chances to save what remains of some of the most important ecosystems in the world: the Chiquitano dry forest and the Bolivian Amazon.
Nina Py Brozovich, a first-year at Brown from Bolivia. Stereotypical nerd concentrating in Computer Science and Mathematics. Passionate about animals and anime.
Burning Chiquitanía
After a life-changing internship in 2019 at the refuge La Senda Verde I became very attached to the environmental cause and worked for years with several environmental organizations in Bolivia. Since then, I hope to contribute to social and environmental justice with everything I engage in. The fires in 2019 might be one of the most emblematic environmental issues in Bolivia, showing the real ambitions behind these disasters and those who are actually bringing change and solutions, even at their small (or not so small) scale. I hope to inform my readers about this not-so-well-known issue happening in an abandoned but essential place for the environmental fight, the dry forest Chiquitanía and the Bolivian Amazon.
Research and Interviews
Stanislaw Czaplicki Cabezas - World Wildlife Fund WWF, 22/02/2023
Virginia Ossio - La Senda Verde
Morillas, Andrés. “Incendios y Deforestación: Las Ocho Normas Que Avivan El Fuego En Bolivia.” INESAD. INESAD, August 24, 2020. https://www.inesad.edu.bo/2020/08/24/incendios-y-deforestacion-las-ocho-normas-queavivan-el-fuego-en-bolivia/.
Cipca Bolivia. “Mundos Rurales No. 15: ‘Impactos Del Modelo Productivo Agroindustrial En Bolivia.’” https://www.facebook.com/CIPCA_Bolivia-114876261976070/, September 8, 2020. https://cipca.org.bo/publicaciones-e-investigaciones/revistas/mundos-ruralesno-15-impactos-del-modelo-productivo-agroindustrial-en-bolivia.
Cajigas, Eva. “El Modelo Agroindustrial y Los Incendios Amazónicos.” EcoPortal.net, August 27, 2019. https://www.ecoportal.net/paises/el-modelo-agroindustrial-y-losincendios-amazonicos/.
“Agricultura Intensiva: Características y Posibles Soluciones.” EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM, June 24, 2022. https://eos.com/es/blog/agricultura-intensiva/.
Rfi. “¿Por Qué La Selva Amazónica También Se Quema En Bolivia?” RFI. RFI, August 27, 2019. https://www.rfi.fr/es/americas/20190827-por-que-la-selva-amazonica-tambien-sequema-en-bolivia.
“Beni, El Cambio De Uso De Suelo Que Quiere Llevar Al Departamento a La Agroindustria.” CEDLA, May 10, 2022. https://cedla.org/reportaje-amazonia-en-la-mira/beni-elcambio-de-uso-de-suelo-que-quiere-llevar-al-departamento-a-la-agroindustria/.
“La Expansión De La Agroindustria Hacia LA Amazonía Boliviana.” CEDLA, May 10, 2022. https://cedla.org/reportaje-amazonia-en-la-mira/expansion-de-la-agroindustria-hacia-laamazonia-boliviana/.
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