In this Los Tiempos article, Manfreddo Kempff Suarez discusses the disturbing news that 18 officials/directors of the National Service of Protected Areas (Sernap) have been replaced. “Teodoro Mamani, current director of Sernap, is known for not having the slightest environmentalist idea, but who has made a career in the MAS, as the second person in the Trade Union Confederation of Peasant Workers of Bolivia. And the head of the Bolivian Association of Conservation Agents (Abolac), Santos Mamani, is also identified as being close to Masism. In Madidi Park the new director is the daughter of the former candidate for Mayor of San Buenaventura.”
Bolivia's environmental challenges in 2021
According to Pablo Villegas, head of research at the Bolivian Documentation and Information Center (CEDIB), “I believe that this year there will be new attacks against protected natural areas and indigenous territories.”
“Villegas points out that, in addition, in the protected areas the management plans have been changed to reduce their protection. Two supreme decrees of 2015 reduced the prior consultation process to an administrative procedure, facilitating the exploitation of mining, hydrocarbons and other natural resources in protected areas.”
‘According to the Environmental Agenda for Bolivia 2020-2030 , prepared by League for the Defense of the Environment (Lidema)— a national network of 19 institutions—most of the national protected areas suffer impacts, caused by various types of activities, and departmental or municipal, have an incipient management or lack it. "This is mainly due to the fact that national regulations have been permissive and have clearly reduced the protection status of these areas," the document says. Jenny Gruenberger from Lidema is primarily concerned with the dams that have been designed within these conservation areas. Some of the most intense social conflicts in the country are related to this pressure on protected areas.”
“"Bolivia currently has the second highest proportion of protected areas under intense human pressure in all of South America," says Lidema's document.”
Although “Bolivia has laws that favor forest conservation…it is the country with the highest rate of greenhouse gas emissions per capita, due to what is happening in the forests. "The burning of forests is affecting the water sources and we are also experiencing a very strong drought that causes local climatic phenomena."
“Rubén Darío Arias Ortiz, member of the National Coordinator for the Defense of Indigenous Peasant Territories and Protected Areas (Contiocap) is concerned about how alluvial mining is growing in protected areas such as Madidi National Park and the Beni River. "They are suffering a lot from extractivism." A report by Mongabay Latam , published in May 2020, exposed how large vessels known as 'dragons' - dedicated to the extraction of alluvial gold - are present in the Kaka River, one of the tributaries of the Beni River, 15 kilometers from the Madidi National Park.”
“The gold mining megaproject of the Bolivian Mining Corporation (Comibol) is the one that worries Gruenberger the most. This project would be carried out in the Madre de Dios river basin, and would severely affect the Manuripi Reserve .
At the beginning of December, President Luis Arce met with the representatives of the 14 Federations of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia (Fencomin) to work on the plan to reactivate this sector. The president pointed out, through his Twitter account, that the mining sector is "important for the Bolivian economy."
"We are aware that the economy must be reactivated, but extractivism is not the only way to reactivate it," says indigenous leader Ruth Alipaz . “Instead of investing in destroying, we must invest in educating. The economic reactivation must be related to the environmental issue ”, he adds.”
To learn more, see the original Spanish-language Mongabay article.
An opposition senator asks for reports on the dismissal of several park rangers
According to this Spanish language article, complaints and concerns raised by environmental organizations and voluntary groups regarding several dismissals of experienced park rangers of Bolivian national reserves motivated an opposition senator to request reports from the National Service of Protected Areas about what happened. The directors of Madidi National Park , considered the most biodiverse protected area in the world, of the Tunari Park and of the Carrasco National Park among others, were fired.
The Bolivian Association of Park Rangers and Conservation Agents (Abolac) issued a statement regarding the "irregularities and arbitrariness" committed by Mamani.
The pronouncement indicates that Mamani dismissed directors, chiefs of protection and park rangers, as well as specialized technical personnel of that entity "without respecting their seniority or administrative career," without evaluating the performance of each one, or reaching a consensus.
They also accuse him of having selected people “without the required profile" to replace the dismissed personnel.
They also asked the Minister of the Environment and Water, Juan Santos, to intervene in this situation since these important areas are left "unprotected", which could benefit "the proliferation of illegal acts and the violation of these territories.”
“Faced with the wave of criticism…José Luis Howard (was reinstated) as director of the Madidi park, without specifying what will happen in the other cases.”
SERNAP backs down and restores the Chief of Protection of Madidi Park
Los Tiempos reported that “The executive director of the National Service of Protected Areas (SERNAP), Teodoro Mamani Ibarra, reinstated the head of Protection of Madidi National Park, José Luis Howard, after the wave of criticism and pronouncements for the dismissal of at least seven heads of Protection of areas protected areas of the country.
Activists and different institutions called for the restitution of all those fired, including the head of Protection of the Tunari National Park, Alberto Terrazas, who was also acting director and denounced different irregularities within the protected area.
A couple of days ago, the Bolivian Association of Park Rangers, Conservation Agents (Abolac) denounced that Mamani dismissed the officials without respecting their seniority, professionalism, management career, performance and without reaching a consensus with the Management Committees by selecting “people without the profile required by the regulations ”.
Abolac demanded the restitution of the officials and warned that otherwise they will declare a state of emergency, protests and the installation of a hunger strike.”
In four days they dismiss five chief park rangers from protected areas
“Officials with up to 30 years of experience as park rangers of the national protected areas were dismissed on Monday, January 11. In the previous four days, five chiefs were dismissed.”
The spokesperson for the National Coordinator for the Defense of the Indigenous Peasant Territories and Protected Areas of Bolivia (Contiocap), Alex Villca, spoke about all these exits. He expressed his concern.
“We are aware of a sequence of memoranda that is being imparted to different protected areas nationwide. At the moment they are hierarchical positions. They will surely make changes at the administrative level. We are concerned that this situation reaches the level of park rangers, because they live in the communities, they come from indigenous communities, they live in the area of influence, ”he explained to Página Siete Digital .
The park rangers - who have training on the protection of these areas - are local and go into the forests for 24 days every month; they fear retaliation and regret this systematic dismissal of team leaders.”
Sernap did not communicate any justification at the time of dismissing the heads of the protection body. The Contiocap representative pointed out that intercultural leaders were appointed to replace the chiefs of protection.
Villca commented in this regard that in the Madidi National Park, where he lives, a new chief park ranger was assigned, who has no knowledge of the management of the protected area…MAS and their attitude towards the environment is practically negative for those of us who live in the lowlands. The interest they seek is economic, materialistic, they see these spaces as a place where they have to obtain profits, profit ”
One of the chief park rangers said: “What we question is that it is not the way to designate the personnel of protected areas. The representative of an (intercultural) organization cannot be the head of a park ranger because those organizations are where offenders are born and our day-to-day fight is against them ”, he warned.”
The 1917-1919 Spanish flu epidemic in region that produced elastic gum in Bolivia and its analogies with the current pandemic, by Professor Maria del Pilar Gamarra Téllez.
Analogies to the 1917-1919 Spanish flu epidemic and the current COVID epidemic are described in this Portuguese article. The combination of the effects of World War I, the fall in rubber prices due to competition from Asian supplier markets and the effects of the Spanish flu caused enormous human and material losses. Similarly, the current COVID epidemic “emerged in the middle of the economic recession from which we were trying to escape, further weakened the economic recovery efforts of our countries, spreading the disease, death and fear.”
Between 1917 and 1920, short-term measures were taken to alleviate the local and regional economic crisis. Added to the “Brazil nut” were other products abundant in the Amazon rainforest, such as sarsaparilla, balata, elastic gum, among others. Calling it "... the resurrection of an industry ...", there were even those who thought about reactivating the exploration of the corner to alleviate the crisis. However, the effects of the World War, coupled with the health crisis due to the proliferation of patients infected with the "Spanish flu", were felt severely. At the end of 1918, when the pandemic was declared, basic necessities began to become scarce, including foods such as wheat flour and sugar, shortages were present both in Manaus, Villa Bella and Riberalta, no exception.”
Bolivia currently ranks first in export of nuts from the Amazon. “As with elastic gum until the 1920s, since 2010 Great Britain and the United States have been the main buyers of the product (33% and 28% respectively). Taking a page from history, public policies are urgently needed “to alleviate the crisis (economic support, issuance of bonds and agreements with Brazil).”
Amazon Fires 2020 – Recap of Another Intense Fire Year
Over 2,500 major fires occurred across the Amazon in 2020; 8% in Bolivia. In the Bolivian Amazon, we detected 205 major fires. The vast majority (88%) burned in Amazonian savanna and dry forest ecosystems. Notably, a quarter of these fires burned within protected areas.” The vast majority of the major fires in Brazil, Bolivia and Peru “were likely human-caused and illegal, in violation of governmental fire management regulations and moratoriums.” “In the Bolivian Amazon, both 2019 and 2020 had in common the extensive burning of Amazon savannas and dry forests.”
More details are available in the full report.
YPFB reaches the northern Amazon and focuses on drilling the Gomero X1 well
Marco Antonio Carrillo, the manager of Exploration and Exploitation of Bolivia’s state oil company, has announced their investigation of “potential possible hydrocarbon producing levels, to seek the replacement of reserves in the short and medium term.” The state oil company is focusing their attention in the Amazonian north of the country and drilling the Gomero X1 IE Stratigraphic Research Well, a project located in the Beni River Area.
A “2.6-kilometer access road has already been opened, and works are currently being carried out to prepare the soil for gravel, the improvement of seven wooden bridges and the construction of the drilling platform, tasks that are estimated to be completed in two months approximately, depending on the rainy season. The next stage, which consists of mobilizing the drilling equipment, is expected to take place in March next year.” You can learn more in this Spanish-language article.
Human rights organizations and individuals support the ex rector of the University Mayor of San Andres
According to this Spanish-language article, Amnesty International, and 25 other human rights organizations and 17 individuals signed a document expressing their support for the ex rector of the University Mayor of San Andres, Waldo Albarracin. The former President of of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights of Bolivia and his family have received more than 20 threats to his life and his personal integrity. The document calls on public officials to “guarantee the rights of the defender and condemn all threats. and delegitimization campaigns against you.”
Government delivered more than 50 government approvals to Bolivian municipalities and 650 legal entities
On October 30, Bolivian Minister Yerko Núñez delivered Ministerial Resolution 240/2020 which recognizes the homologation (official approval or confirmation) of the urban area of the municipality of Rurrenabaque in the department of Beni. This action is intended to “help reactivate the region's economy.”
According to this Spanish-language article, “Among the legal entities that were delivered during this administration of President Jeanine Añez, the most significant was that of Pilón Lajas. "For us it is important, valuable and significant to have given the legal status of Pilón Lajas, of our communities, of our indigenous people who are often unprotected and forgotten, but with that document they will be able to exercise their rights," said the minister.”
Minister Núñez acknowledged that the pandemic has affected tourism. Back in March, Rurrenabaque was poised to be “filled with international tourists.” He also said: “"I ask you to give value to this instrument, that the oldest settlements are entitled to title their proprietary right (...) Use this instrument so that Rurrenabaque grows and so that there is harmony.”