Support for Forest-Fire Control Program in the Bolivian Amazon

(La Paz, August 22, 2011). With non-reimbursable cooperation funds and as part of its Environmental Strategy, CAF –Latin American development bank- is to support the National Program for Climate Change (PNCC after its initials in Spanish) being undertaken by Bolivia’s Ministry for the Environment and Water in the area of implementing emergency measures for handling and controlling forest fires. These efforts are part of the Amazon without Fire Program (PASF after its initials in Spanish), a joint initiative that also has the cooperation of Italy and the Brazilian Government.

The increase in fires caused by the practice of burning away vegetation to make the land ready for use and expand agricultural boundaries –extensively engaged in by Bolivian cattle ranchers and farmers- has resulted in the loss of 300,000 hectares of primary forest a year on average since 2007 and more than 6 million hectares of forest in the past 30 years. For that same reason, in 2010, foci of heat increased by as much as 400% compared to 2009.

“Having a program that supports the country in the handling and control of fires is fundamental for avoiding greater ecological damage. This problem is one of the biggest threats to the fauna and flora of the Amazonian region, whose contribution to the national ecosystem is essential,” stated CAF’s director in Bolivia, Emilio Uquillas.

The PASF, which is scheduled to last for three years, seeks to reduce the number of fires in Bolivia’s Amazonian catchment area by implementing alternative practices to the use of fire, so helping to protect the environment and improve the living conditions of the communities with work methods that have already proved to be successful in the Brazilian Amazon.

The program is to start up in the coming months. However, given that it is important for concrete action be taken as soon as possible, an “emergency phase” has been initiated –financed by CAF- whose objectives are to minimize forest fires during the present summer season and lay the foundations for the proper implementation of the PASF. To that end, preventive measures in the handling and control of forest fires will be identified and prioritized in coordination with different national and international actors, training activities for associated groups will be given, and communication campaigns for the population in the affected areas will be carried out.

The Amazonian region, where these activities under the PASF are to be carried out, covers much of the departments of Santa Cruz and Beni and the northern part of La Paz.

Through the joint efforts of CAF, the Italian cooperation agency, and the Brazilian Government, in the medium term, it is planned to implement the program in other countries of the region that have the same problem of proliferation of forest fires, such as Ecuador and Peru.

CAF’s Environmental Strategy seeks to generate and constantly improve frameworks, spaces, and processes that guarantee that the agency is environmentally and socially responsible and to support shareholder countries in the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources by incorporating criteria and principles of long-term sustainability.