The forest fires in Bolivia led the country to the biggest environmental crisis in its history, according to the authorities themselves.
Now, a “disaster situation” has been declared because it suffered 3036 fire outbreaks simultaneously. The numbers far exceed those of the rest of the countries in the world and highlight deficiencies in terms of prevention and preparation against the climate crisis.
Forest fires in Bolivia: record and disaster situation
The air pollution in some areas reached levels incompatible with human life, and the consequences of these fires, according to experts, will be felt for years.
National Disaster due to fires in Bolivia.
This affects both human populations and nature.
Juan Pablo Chumacero, director of Fundación Tierra, stated that not everything lost can be recovered. “The truth and the most likely scenario is that what has been lost will never be recovered,” he declared.
The latest report from the government of Luis Arce, on October 13, indicated that forest fires devastated 9.8 million hectares, with Santa Cruz being the most affected region. Fundación Tierra estimated that by mid-November, the fires had ravaged more than 14 million hectares.
On the other hand, Gonzalo Colque, an economist specializing in agrarian and environmental studies, who was the executive director at Fundación Tierra and currently works as a researcher, warned about the recurrence of wildfires.
“We have had two extreme fire events in the last five years. In 2019, we had a record number of burned hectares,” he stated in an interview with Ecoticias.
“That number decreased in 2023 but escalated again last year, practically doubling the national figure of what we had in 2019,” he added.
He described the situation as “catastrophic” in general terms. “The second idea is that these recent fires are mainly concentrated in the department of Santa Cruz. Before, it was a combination of Santa Cruz and Beni,” he pointed out.
“This means that the reasons for deforestation and burning are not for livestock, but mainly for the expansion of the agricultural frontier to enable monoculture lands, mainly for soy, mechanized agriculture, and the extensive use of monocultures,” he explained about the causes.
He also warned about the danger to the ecosystem since native forests are being affected. “It is the entire tropical zone and practically connected to the Amazon. The trend is historical but worsened starting in 2005,” Colque said.
Unprecedented environmental crisis
Vincent Vos, from the Forest Research Institute of the Amazonia at the Autonomous University of Beni José Ballivián, stated that Bolivia is experiencing “the greatest environmental crisis” in its history.
Environmental alert in Bolivia.
The expert explained that 60% of the burned hectares are forests, causing “irreversible” damage to the environment. “If around 6 million hectares of forest were burned, we are talking about 1.8 billion burned trees,” Vos estimated.
Ecological consequences
Vos also mentioned that millions of mammals, vertebrates, and invertebrates have been lost. Although some species managed to escape, they have already lost their natural habitat and will have to adapt to new living conditions.
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