Bolivia: What political and economic interest is behind the forest fires?

It is that time in Bolivia when the sky is covered with smoke, allergies in the eyes, nose and throat are exacerbated, and the sun turns orange at sunset due to the curtain of smoke covering Santa Cruz de la Sierra – forest burnings out of control in the department.

According to the study “La Amazonía contra reloj: un diagnóstico regional sobre cómo proteger el 80 % al 2025” (The Amazon against the clock: a regional diagnosis on how to protect 80% by 2025), elaborated by the Red Amazónica de Información Socioambiental Georreferenciada (RAISG) the situation is critical.

Twenty-six percent of the entire Amazonian territory, covering 847 million hectares, has suffered irreversible loss, and 6% is highly degraded.

Nine countries in the region form part of the Amazon basin, but Brazil and Bolivia are most responsible for its destruction due to agricultural activities.

Alcides Vadillo, regional director of Terra Foundation in Santa Cruz, explains that the loss of forests in Bolivia has much to do with the yearly burnings in August and September.

In 2019, Bolivia reached a record of forest loss due mainly to forest fires caused by those who burn it to use the land for agriculture.

Of concern is not only the Amazon but also other regions of the country, such as the Chiquitania, but this year there is a change in trend and territory that draws a lot of attention.

“The deforestation data that we have to date and perhaps first showing an accumulated is that 56% of the burns that go in what are these nine months from January to September 2022, 900,000 hectares have burned in Beni, 548,000 hectares in Santa Cruz, 92,500 hectares in La Paz, 51,000 hectares in Cochabamba, 5000 hectares in Pando, and 2,900 hectares in Tarija.

“So far this year, we have 1.6 million hectares that have already been burned, where 56% of the burned area is in the department of Beni, and this is one of the biggest novelties compared to previous years.

HOW CAN WE INTERPRET THAT MORE THAN HALF OF THE TERRITORY IS BURNED IN THE AMAZONIAN DEPARTMENT OF BENI?

In Fundación Tierra’s opinion, there is a clear explanation: the government recently promoted a change in the use plan for the department of Beni with a goal.

“The land use plan was changed two years ago, based on forestry and silvopastoral livestock activities, to enable large amounts of land for agricultural use.

It implies the authorization and the possibility of clearing large areas of land. And today, the data tell us these hectares have already been cleared and are being burned,” explains Vadillo.

The current fire map is heavily concentrated in Santa Cruz, Beni, and in areas of the Cochabamba tropics, northern La Paz, and Pando.

“This is worrisome because, unlike previous years, almost all tropical regions of Bolivia are on fire and under threat of fire.

“More than one and a half million hectares, more than 50% of that area burned in the department of Beni, and we have large areas in Beni and Santa Cruz under threat,” adds the expert.

WHAT IS THE BOLIVIAN GOVERNMENT DOING ABOUT IT?

For Fundación Tierra, the responsibility for the fires lies mainly in the policies set out in the Patriotic Agenda 2025, which is reflected in the current administration’s economic and social development plan.

“There is a policy of expanding the agricultural frontier, of turning Bolivia into a food, grain, and meat exporting country, and in this sense, no economic value is given to the forest.

“There is an openly promoted policy to convert forest lands into agricultural areas. The forest is not seen as an element that can generate economy; the vision in Bolivia is simplistic and agrarian,” explains Vadillo.

For this expert, the government contradicts itself between a pro-Pachamama discourse and its lack of knowledge of the studies that indicate the economic value of the forest for its provision of environmental services, water generation, temperature control, climate, etc.

“The forest is an economy, simply with the function of carbon dioxide capture. Studies in Bolivia show how one hectare of forest achieves carbon dioxide capture for a value between US$80 and US$60 per hectare per year.

“Some countries receive payments just for maintaining the forest, but government policies do not prioritize these projects.

“We should debate the use given to our forests because if we do not enter into this type of project, and the alternative is to deforest, we are generating an ecological crime,” says Vadillo.

CONTRADICTION OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE AND ACTIONS

President Luis Arce’s recent speech at the United Nations had an important component of environmental conservation and care for mother earth.

However, it has generated criticism among activists and political actors who see a contradiction between the image the government promotes to the international community and what is happening in the country.

“Arce’s speech remained in the traditional narrative of his party; he repeats the same thing that Evo Morales has been saying for years.

“They proclaim a model of environmental protection and champion the care of indigenous peoples, but the reality is the opposite.

“The deforestation in the Amazon and the Chiquitania is terrible and is part of the policy of this government,” says former vice-presidential candidate Gustavo Pedraza.

“The change of land use made in lands with no agricultural aptitude has a political reason. Forest reserves and protected areas are under pressure and threatened; we already see deforestation and settlements.

“The Bajo Paraguá and the Noel Kempff are concrete examples that show a reality that differs from what President Arce has said.

“Deforestation and the handing over of lands to the militancy of the government party is what characterizes MAS policies, and it is necessary to make this clear to the international community,” explained Pedraza in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg Línea.

The group Alas Chiquitanas works to collect donations for volunteer firefighters and alleviate fires’ effects in protected areas.

For its creator, Daniela Justiniano, there is no political will to defend the forests at either the governmental or departmental level.

“When civil society jumps in to help, it is because the authorities, who have to provide security to society and take care of the patrimony, have been put off.

“In the end, the population is left to help the volunteer firefighters, but it is a job that the government should do with Bolivian resources,” says Justiniano.

For Vadillo of Fundación Tierra, in addition to the concern for the forests, there is an economic component and territorial control that raises alarms because “the lands have become political booty and are handed over to gain political support.

The MAS party has been handing out lands for more than ten years as part of a political pre-sale to its militants, but it is also displacing people to certain areas of Santa Cruz and Beni with a clear idea of political control of the territory”.

With information from Bloomberg