El Diario reports:
Environmental alarm
- The country is among the 10 most deforested in the world
- In 2010 the loss of the forest was 20 times more than the planetary average according to the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation of Germany
Data from scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA of the United States, revealed that sectors with loss of forest area increased sharply in Bolivia, Madagascar and Ecuador during the third quarter of 2013 and that this situation has been pronounced much more in recent years
In the case of Bolivia, deforestation in just three months reached 167 percent more than in the same period of the previous year, according to the news agency Erbol, which replicated an article that appeared on the blog, Vivens.
The quarterly indicator of changes in coverage (Quicc), a product based on the Modis satellite that forms the basis of the Global Forest Disturbance Alert (GloF-DAS) of Mogabay.com, captured strong signs of deforestation in the three tropical countries between July 1 and September 30, 2013: Bolivia (167 percent), Madagascar (126 percent) and Ecuador (38 percent), reveals the report.
DISTURBANCES
In Bolivia, the largest areas of forest disturbance are present in the southern region of Santa Cruz and Tarija, said the document published by Vivens.
Bolivia continues to be one of the countries with the highest deforestation per capita in the world, which causes alarm among environmentalists. The burning to enable land for livestock and agriculture are the reasons that accelerate the loss of forests.
“Of the countries that have forests, Bolivia is one of the most deforested. In deforestation per capita we are among the 10 first countries that deforest in the world. And the main cause of deforestation is livestock, “environmental specialist Pablo Solón told Compass Digital.
Researcher Lykke Andersen, from the Institute for Advanced Development Studies (Inesad) and author of an investigation, said in a press interview that “there are only three countries in the world with more deforestation per capita than Bolivia: Botswana, Paraguay and Namibia”, According to the site http://www.scidev.net.
GERMAN FOUNDATION
A study by the German foundation Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) calculated in 2010 that the country loses 350,000 hectares of forests annually due to both legal and clandestine activities. These 350,000 hectares imply about 320 square meters per person of forest loss per year, one of the highest in the world and represents, according to the FES, about 20 times more than the world average, which is 16 square meters per person. At this rate, which has not been reduced in recent years, but increased, the forests of Bolivia could disappear by the year 2100.
ETHANOL
Deforestation in Santa Cruz will grow even more because the Bolivian government has implemented the production of gasoline combined with ethanol by sugar mills, which will deforest until 2025 about 175,000 new hectares with the production of sugarcane.
According to the understanding signed between the mills and YPFB last March, the state oil company will receive until 2025 about 380 million liters of ethanol from the mills, many of which have begun the delivery of a first part of the 80 million liters that must be delivered to the refineries until the first quarter of the following year.
OTHER COUNTRIES
In the same line, according to another report published by the FAO, worldwide the forest area continues to decline with the largest losses of tropical forests in South America and Africa.
“Better information on forest resources is a key factor in stopping illegal deforestation and forest degradation,” FAO warned yesterday in commemoration of the International Day of Forests.
The document notes that the forest area was reduced by about 5.3 million ha / year, which corresponds, in the period 1990-2010, to a net loss equivalent to almost four times the size of Italy or Colombia.
The gross reduction in the use of forest land caused by deforestation and natural disasters over a period of 20 years (15.5 million hectares per year) was partially offset by the increase in forest area through afforestation and the expansion of forests. natural forests (10.2 million hectares per year).
Bolivian Thoughts opinion: Before this demagogue and inept government, Bolivia was conducting sustainable forest management. We ranked among the top two countries with the most hectares of natural forest under sustainable management. Now, as narcotraffick is blooming, coca crop hectarage is also growing. And let’s not forget that due to a chaotic land tenure and illegal land take overs, as a result of evo’s search for supporters, so he can continue in government, deforestation, lack of legal certainty are our worst possible scenario.
Bolivian Thoughts 