The devastating fires in Bolivia have destroyed an area larger than Portugal. According to the National Institute for Agrarian Reform (Inra), about ten million hectares of land have already been destroyed this year.
The data confirmed Bolivia’s worst ever environmental disaster, El Deber newspaper reported. According to Inra, almost 60 percent of the fires affected forests and 40 percent meadows. In 2023, 6.3 million hectares burned.
The number of fires tripled
According to data from Brazil’s Institute for Space Research (Inpe), which is responsible for satellite monitoring, the number of fires has more than tripled compared to the same period last year. No other South American country is experiencing such a drastic increase. According to Inpe, there have been more than 85,500 fires in the Andean country so far this year – the highest number since records began in 1998.
NGO: “Worst environmental disaster in Bolivia’s history”
Deforested areas are often burned to create new pastures and agricultural land. Drought associated with climate change is fueling the spread of fires. The Bolivian government declared a national emergency two weeks ago to make extra money available to fight fires. The non-governmental organization Fundación Tierra describes 2024 as “the year of the worst environmental disaster in Bolivia’s history.”
The eastern Santa Cruz region is hardest hit. Volunteer firefighters have been fighting the flames in a small village in the Valle de Tucavaca nature reserve for months. “There are very few professional firefighters here. Without the volunteers, much more forest would have burned here,” German biologist Steffen Reichle told dpa.
Source: Krone
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