Bolivia hit by fires declares a "state of national disaster"

With the approval of Supreme Decree 5235, the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, declared on Monday a state of national disaster due to the forest fires which are devastating the eastern part of the country in particular.The governorate of Santa Cruz - the area most affected by the fires - has in fact reported that, until last week, the flames consumed over 7.2 million hectares of forests and grasslands:this is the largest environmental disaster suffered in this region, where 27% of the national population resides and which it represents the economic engine and the main agricultural and livestock center of the country.Bolivia is not the only Latin American country having to face a scenario that seems increasingly uncontrollable:in fact, in the global silence, in Brazil almost 370 thousand square kilometers of forest have gone up in smoke in recent months.

The Supreme Decree signed by the president of Bolivia has the aim of «protecting the environment, the health and lives of people, biodiversity and the activities of the Bolivian population due to the extent of the forest fires».The decision was announced by Minister María Nela Prada on the sidelines of a meeting between President Luis Arce, the governor of the Santa Cruz department Mario Aguilera and the mayors of the municipalities most affected by the disaster.Specifically, the provision provides for a modification of the budget with the aim of channel extra resources to fight fires, delegating the management of international aid cooperation to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Planning.“There are responsibilities in responding to fires, firstly of the municipal and departmental governments and thirdly of the national government,” said the deputy minister of Civil Protection, Juan Carlos Calvimontes.The Centro Nacional de Monitoreo Contra Incendio has announced that the air quality index (AQI) has reached 372, threshold considered "extremely negative", which brings with it risks of eye and throat irritation and critical issues for people suffering from respiratory problems.In addition to Santa Cruz, the departments most affected by forest fires are those of Beni and Pando.According to the authorities, the origin of these fires, which began to spread in the spring, was directly linked to agricultural deforestation for the cultivation of soybeans and rice.

However, the gravity of the situation goes far beyond Bolivian borders.Uncontrollable fires are indeed devastating vast areas of Brazil, including large parts of the Amazon forest, the Atlantic forest, the tropical savannah of the Cerrado and the Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world.In the month of August and the first days of September only over 45,400 fires have been recorded in the Amazon, a figure not seen since 2005.Overall, this year, fires have increased by 76% compared to 2022.According to data published by the National Institute of Space Research of Brazil, from January 1st to September 3rd, 70,402 uncontrolled fires occurred in the portion of the Amazon forest of the country, fires which, overall, would have affected and destroyed an area greater than that of the Italy, 369 thousand square kilometers.The majority of fires are of arson origin.They are in fact set with the aim of taking away new space from nature to make room for businesses linked to agriculture or livestock.Criminal actions whose disastrous results are made more serious than in other years by the combination of strong winds, high temperatures and low rainfall which is affecting large areas of the territory.Huge swathes of land also went up in flames in Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru.

[by Stefano Baudino]