Every year, during this time of the year, the Bolivian Amazon burns. And not only due to natural causes, but also from interests that have no connection with nature’s ways. By the end of the month of July, during the season for forest fires, the number of heat spots grows by the day.

The scorching of pasture lands begins in May and reaches a critical point between August and October. Fire is used to clear out land for agriculture or to stimulate the growth of new pastures. However, its illegal and indiscriminate use causes major forest fires in the surrounding areas quickly spreading over the great mass of dry vegetation available.

Focos de calor por região e ano

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2009
Bolívia	4437	4849	21496	18835	8351	1336
Bolivian Amazon	4304	4723	20817	18151	7766	1320
Outside the Bolivian Amazon	133	126	679	684	585	16

The Bolivian Amazon –which includes approximately half of Bolivia’s surface area and holds more than a million inhabitants – has as its main economic activities, agriculture, livestock breeding, the use of the forest itself and for non-wood derived forest products such as the Brazil nut, a delicacy exported to the rest of the world, led by Bolivians.

According to Robert Munhoz, a technician of Bolivia’s ABT (Inspection and Social Control Authority for the Forests and Soil), to establish the source of heat spots in the Amazonian parts of the country and elsewhere, is something quite complicated to do. However, it is quite clear that the hands of Man are among its main causes, whether due to improperly put out fires or cigarette stubs discarded into the forest by hunters or fishermen, or even due to the expansion of agricultural borders. Natural causes, such as lightning are down to a minimum.

Deforesting and fires are the greatest threats to the Amazonian ecosystems of Bolivia, since 400,000 hectares are deforested every year to free up new land for agricultural and livestock breeding purposes.

In the case of fires employed by livestock farmers and the agro industrial business, it’s more like an exploitation of natural resources, where enormous stretches of forests and savannahs are affected to expand planting areas or pasture land for cattle breeding. Forest fires not only sacrifice the woodlands and biodiversity as it also has a completely negative effect on productive economies, on commerce and human and animal health.

Monitoring and deforesting

Deforesting performed for agricultural purposes is the basis on which ABT works to monitor and detect illegally deforested areas, an activity that bears a close relation to forest fires. Through this work, just in the Pando department, to the north of the Bolivian Amazon, 7,000 hectares of illegally deforested areas were detected last year, says Munhoz.

But there are also other institutions interested in monitoring and seeking solutions for forest fires in the Bolivian Amazon. Conservation International (CI) and CARE Bolivia, through an alliance with the governments of the Pando department and the city of Cobija, conduct an annual monitoring of heat spots and deforesting in the region in order to learn more about the state of conservation of the Amazon Rainforest, explains Juan Carlos Ledezma, coordinator of Environmental Services for CI. The bet is that with the knowledge generated it will be possible to work and contribute towards the reduction and mitigation of the impacts caused by forest fires. In this manner, a deeper understanding on fires can be reached, discovering more about its use and handling in the Amazon while proposing new alternatives for local inhabitants and the region itself.

After the years of 2007 and 2008, in which forest fires affected the entire country, both ABT and CI adopted new detection and control tools to deal with forest fires. The former also adopted stricter penalties for those responsible, helping to reduce the number of seared areas.

As one might expect, this is not an overnight operation, it is a process as it also an opportunity for people and institutions to learn how to conduct their land burning tasks with less impacts on the surrounding forest. However, this year in which such activities began earlier, there is still hope that there will be fewer hot spots as compared to last year.

Heat spots in Bolivia

Below, we show some maps of Bolivia with hot spots distributed along the Bolivian Amazon and beyond. Data supplied by theWeather Forecast and Climate Studies Center (CPTEC) of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).