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00:00As a
00:28mom, I want to leave things better for my children. I think this is the best way of
00:34doing it. It all started with a few donations. We went with 20 barrels of water and 30 firefighters,
00:42including beginners. One of the young men was very tired. I took his backpack and just
00:50went in. And that's how it all began. I'm 40 and have three kids. I'm diabetic and
00:56overweight. Even so, it's something I can and have to do.
01:07Bolivia ranks third in the world for primary forest loss. An alarming 70% of its old-growth
01:14forests have been destroyed, often by wildfires that are becoming increasingly intense. Since
01:212019, when the country witnessed record-breaking tree cover loss, over 22 million hectares
01:28have gone up in flames.
01:37During my first forest fire, we were surrounded by 30-metre-high trees that were burning from
01:42the ground up. The smoke was intense. My eyes started burning. Everywhere I looked,
01:55all I saw was fire. Everyone was tired, and we were out of water. I was so scared, I started
02:03singing a song from the Jungle Book. All the others started singing along, too. It
02:19made the tension and fear disappear. It took us five or six hours to put out the fires.
02:25When we came back, it was burning again. It's like people do it on purpose. It makes you
02:30wonder. How can people destroy the place that gives them life?
02:43Caminha Aguilera is a member of the volunteer fire brigade Yenecheru. They receive no financial
02:49support from the government, so every evening the night-shift crew raise funds on the streets.
02:56OK, let's do this. We're going to ask nicely and aim high. We need to raise at least 400
03:03pesos. We'll smile, sing, dance and enjoy ourselves.
03:09At the busiest tollbooth on the edge of the city, Caminha has to raise her voice above
03:13the noise from passing traffic.
03:19Spare some change for the volunteer firefighters? Thank you. Take care.
03:24Any change for the volunteer firefighters? Thank you, sir. Have a good trip. Thank you,
03:31sir. All the best.
03:38After three hours, the group has collected just 280 pesos. It's far from enough, but
03:44their commitment keeps them going, despite the challenges.
03:50At 1 p.m. we were told that there's a big fire at the airport. Every year the grasslands
03:59burn. Good afternoon, fire brigade. Thanks. It's very dry with a lot of wind. An entire
04:10hectare can burn down in two seconds.
04:12The blaze at Viru Viru Airport marks the official start of fire season. Grasses, leaves
04:30and fallen trees dry up after the last rains, forming a thick layer of potential fuel. The
04:36heat and strong winds make for a dangerous combination, and small fires quickly spiral
04:42out of control.
04:43I wanted to go over there, but I can't. Do we need more up there?
04:51In 2023, over three million hectares of forest and grasslands were reduced to ash. Many of
04:57these fires are caused by slash-and-burn agriculture practices that get out of hand.
05:04We're heading to the Santa Cruz province, which has been the hardest hit over the past
05:08decade, to investigate.
05:35We start the fire into the wind. You have to be careful not to let it run wild. We'll
05:41clear a path here. What's the wind direction? OK, let's start burning.
05:55In the indigenous territory of Lomarillo, local firefighters also help villagers to
05:59burn their fields safely.
06:02That way, please. Make sure the fire doesn't build momentum.
06:13Many small-scale farmers resort to slash-and-burn agriculture, known as el chaqueo, out of economic
06:19necessity. They clear all the vegetation with a machete and then burn the waste. It's hard
06:26work, but widespread poverty in Bolivia leaves many families with no other option.
06:33If you want to rent a machine, you pay per hour, but people can't afford that.
06:41The weather is scorching hot, and the heat from the flames makes it even worse. I feel
06:46dizzy, but I have to keep my guard up, because the fire can turn in an instant.
06:52If it stays like this, it's dangerous. Later, in an hour or so, the fire will flare up and
07:00start spreading. Sometimes it can be difficult to get water here. The roads are bad, so it's
07:14hard to transport water. Sometimes we need to go and get more, and in the meantime, the
07:21fire flares up again.
07:41I travel through the Chiquita Nia, where fierce wildfires rage every year. It's home to
07:46Tropical Dry Forest, a unique ecosystem that serves as a natural barrier between the Amazon
07:52rainforest and the grasslands of Gran Chaco. Along the way, we seem to be permanently surrounded
07:58by plumes of smoke. Intentional burning is used throughout the country to clear land
08:10for agriculture. Fires are also laid to widen roads, burn household trash or clear leaves
08:17from fruit trees to make harvesting easier. But I also see vast fields destined for monocultures,
08:25often soybeans, which are then exported as animal feed. With so many fires, the chances
08:32are high that one or the other will get out of control.
08:44This fire will be an estimated 25 to 27 kilometers long. As park rangers, we focus on prevention,
08:51but we have to put out fires too. This is the fourth fire in less than a month that
08:58we're responding to. There have been times when the fire spread seven kilometers in just one day.
09:05Victor shows me the place where the fire started.
09:13This is where the farmers burn their piles of timber, but this isn't the season. You can't
09:22burn anything now. They fell trees and lay them in rows on top of each other. When it's dry,
09:28they burn it all, and then they can work the land. The risk is that it's too close to the
09:36forest, and if they burn it, the forest will burn too. This distance is nothing. The farmers
09:45don't get it because they're not from here, from eastern Bolivia. They're from the west,
09:49from say Potosi or Oruro. They're given land here in exchange for their votes.
09:55Recklessness, ignorance, or a premeditated act, Victor can't say,
10:04but then he spots a faint haze in the air. See the plumes of smoke rising over there.
10:11I follow Victor to the fire. We drive through a new settlement that looks deserted,
10:19but then a car passes us. The park rangers flag it down, and the men freely admit to
10:25setting a field on fire. They insist that everything is under control.
10:28Those are wood fires. Look how long they are. They lit it. This wasn't burning on Tuesday.
10:37The air is thick with smoke. As soon as I get out, my eyes start watering. A moment
10:44later, my throat feels like sandpaper. It's time to put on protective gear.
10:49There are several settlements here. Some plots have been cleared and are being farmed.
10:56Unfortunately, there's combustible material nearby. It will spread quickly all the way to
11:05Calilla National Park. Before my eyes, the flames spread to the surrounding forest.
11:12It makes me feel powerless. It makes me angry to see this. We fight to protect
11:21flora and fauna, and other people just keep lighting fires.
11:25In San Ignacio de Velasco, I visit the Fundacion Tierra,
11:37an NGO focused on sustainable rural development.
11:41Sima Muiba Nunez tells me about the political and economic factors that contribute to the problem.
11:52To expand farming territory, there has to be deforestation. And the easiest way to do that
12:01is to encourage slash-and-burn farming. The remains of the forest are then simply cleared
12:07away, and the land is prepared for agricultural production.
12:12So, farming is a priority for the government?
12:23That's right. In 2015, it was decided that an extra 10 million hectares of agricultural
12:30land were needed. That led to a decrease in natural resources, such as water. Game and
12:38fish populations are also declining. What's happening here is basically ecocide.
12:49To meet the new production targets, various laws and presidential decrees have been introduced
12:54in recent years. Complaints about illegal deforestation were dismissed, inspections
13:00delayed, logging requirements relaxed, fines reduced, and protective measures weakened.
13:08We call them arson laws. If you compare the cost of cutting down one hectare of forest
13:14with the cost of burning it, it's cheaper to burn it.
13:26There's no respect for Mother Earth, nor for human rights. Vulnerable communities in the
13:33Amazon and the Chiquitaniya are under threat. They're unprotected. All their rights are
13:38violated.
13:51Last year, 7,000 to 11,000 hectares were deforested here. Now there are only fields. There's no
13:58forest left. The indigenous communities in the area now live on islands, so to speak.
14:09We are powerless. Our hands are tied. Thinking about all these things makes us increasingly
14:15worried. This place could turn into one big desert.
14:24The next morning, Julio Egez takes me to a settlement of farmers. In 2019, they accidentally
14:30caused a massive forest fire.
14:36We stopped just outside the settlement. Do they not like visitors?
14:40No, they're wary of people they don't know. So we stopped here to avoid a potential conflict.
14:49This settlement is more hostile than the other one.
14:59The settlements are part of an agricultural reform aimed at curbing large landholdings.
15:05The government grants land to farmers, mostly from the eastern highlands. They establish
15:10so-called intercultural communities.
15:15They're often given plots in the dry and windy west of the country. Within two years,
15:21they have to have converted it into farmland.
15:28This forest is a silviculture zone. If the land here is used for something else, it won't
15:33remain fertile for long. Over there, there's another recently established settlement. Beyond
15:40you'll find San Pedro and then Toborochi. In total, there are 135 new settlements, but
15:48no more than 10 or 12 of them actually work the land.
15:55The land grants are controversial. Some see the scheme as a way out of poverty. Others
16:00believe the system is all too often abused. Julio and I visit the community of Catorce
16:06de Septiembre, established six years ago. By law, beneficiaries of this land must work
16:12and live here permanently to become rightful owners. But in practice, things are different.
16:23Practically no one lives here. There are no basic facilities. There's next to nothing
16:29here. This was built recently because they'll soon show up to sow the fields. They have
16:35other places where they earn money, too.
16:38A kind of fraud?
16:41I'd say so.
16:43What good is a settlement if you're not going to live there?
16:47They traffic it. They keep the land until they own the rights, and then sell it to third
16:53parties.
16:58Land trafficking is a growing problem in Bolivia. Public land is claimed, burned and sold to
17:04foreign companies, cattle ranchers or religious Mennonite communities that practice intensive
17:09farming. But the government also gains from this arrangement.
17:20More than anything, it's a strategy to populate places where the government doesn't have much
17:24political influence. The party in power has never been able to win in the Chiquitania.
17:32The opposition has always won here. I think that is the underlying intention, but they've
17:37camouflaged it as development. They're populating territory to establish a political power base.
17:47This area used to be a no-man's land. Since the construction of a new highway, deforestation
17:53has increased significantly. Lining the roadside are dozens of signs for new settlements. These
18:01are said to be granted by the National Institute of Agrarian Reform. But there's a complete
18:06lack of transparency. For years, the Institute has evaded questions about how land parcels
18:12and beneficiaries are selected. When I visit, I get no response.
18:21I hit the road again. With new fires being set constantly, all firefighting efforts have
18:27been abandoned. Representatives from the military, fire department and local government
18:33are meeting up to make plans.
18:51For safety reasons, nobody will go to fight the fires directly. The northerly wind could
18:56trap us and that would be a disaster. It could cost lives. We can have the best strategy
19:05in the world, but if they keep sabotaging us, there's no point.
19:15Right now, there are four to five hundred fires raging due to slash-and-burn farming.
19:21About every three to four hundred meters, there's a deforested plot of land. In those
19:26places, you see a hut with a corrugated roof. These are settlements. They come on foot and
19:32lay a fire. Three hundred meters further, they do the same. Those are the hot spots
19:38we can see on the satellite picture.
19:42These are clearly organized communities. The fires are lit a few days apart.
19:50Sounds almost like we're at war.
19:53I spend weeks reaching out to intercultural communities to get their side of the story,
19:58but I keep hitting a wall of suspicion towards journalists.
20:02Conflicts between migrant farmers and local indigenous communities are also becoming increasingly
20:07aggressive. Spontaneous visits without permission are too dangerous. Eventually, someone agrees
20:14to meet me.
20:19You can sit here. I've been living here for 14 years. I used to live in the tropics.
20:39In Cochabamba?
20:40Yes, but there were floods. When Evo Morales was president, he told us to move here. Before
20:48we had no land. They found land for us.
20:53What did you know about this region before you arrived?
20:58I didn't know anything. You have to deforest to survive here. We did it by hand, using
21:06machetes and axes. They always say the people working the land are to blame. The farmers
21:13are said to start the fires, but it's not true. There's no justice for poor people.
21:20The rich always get off scot-free. If you have money, you can get away with anything.
21:35There are stark social divisions in Bolivia. A wealthy urban class on the one hand and
21:40an impoverished rural population on the other. And the poorer people are, the more likely
21:46they are to vote for the government, led by the Movement for Socialism, or MAS. It has
21:51huge support among farmers and miners. The farmers who receive land in Santa Cruz are
21:56also members of well-organized unions, which have strong ties to the government.
22:03Who else will protect us and look out for us? Who else can we turn to with our needs?
22:10Who else will help us with the government?
22:13So you feel pretty powerful.
22:15That's right. The union takes our requests to the executive authority in La Paz.
22:23They say that intercultural communities now have more power than the region's indigenous
22:27communities.
22:30Yes. They're uninformed. They don't make demands.
22:45To conclude my journey, I head to Beni, the most tropical province in the country. It's
22:50where deforestation and forest fires have increased fastest in the last three years.
22:57Since the government approved a new land-use plan in 2019, almost 40% of the area can now
23:03be used for agriculture. The rainforest is being rapidly replaced by cattle ranches and
23:08large plantations.
23:12In the Territorio IndÃgena Mohenjo-Ignaciano, some women are turning their backs on slash-and-burn
23:18agriculture to keep their territory safe.
23:27Hello, what's your name?
23:29My name is Mariana.
23:31Mariana.
23:32Mariana.
23:33Mariana.
23:34Mariana.
23:35Mariana.
23:37Hello, what's your name?
23:40You have two more?
23:42I have five kids.
23:44Yolanda's family lives off the land. Right next to their home, they cultivate vegetables
23:49on a plot of land that's surrounded by tropical forest.
23:55We set up our vegetable patches within the forest so that nothing burns down.
24:02We weed everything and chop it all up finely.
24:07We don't burn it so we protect the forest around us.
24:15I remember when my dad used to send me into the fields to burn it.
24:20It was always terrible to see those huge fires.
24:24Now even my father understands.
24:27At first he resisted change. Now he likes to see the yucca plants.
24:32When my son is older, he'll say, I did this with my parents.
24:36Doing this lifts up our community.
24:39Now no one can dismiss us as villagers who set fire to the forest.
24:50There are still so-called virgin forests here.
24:54They've never been burned or cut down.
24:57They're sacred to us. It's how we preserve nature.
25:02Are there any threats to the community?
25:05From outsiders, because they burn so much.
25:08Since they're so close to our territory, the fire can spread to the forest.
25:12It's so dry that everything goes up in flames.
25:16For Yolanda, it's obvious that slash-and-burn agriculture pollutes the environment.
25:21The smoke affects the eyes and lungs of the local population.
25:25Ash enters rivers, contaminating food sources. And food is essential.
25:30Not too hard or it will break. Slowly but surely.
25:35You live off the sales?
25:37Yes, we sell what we harvest. And we use that money to buy what we need.
25:42Things that we don't grow, like sugar or rice.
25:46Yolanda received seed capital and guidance from the Bolivian NGO CEJIS to manage her field.
25:53Although her farm is self-sustaining, she says the initial set-up costs added up.
26:02In the community, we have a lot of problems.
26:06We have a lot of problems.
26:10The communities here always say that we have everything except money.
26:14But we need money to get started.
26:21The next day, Yolanda and I travel to San Ignacio de Mojos, the nearest town.
26:26She's looking for buyers for her latest harvest.
26:31These look good.
26:33They're nice and soft, too.
26:35You already sold me one bag. Bring me two more.
26:38OK.
26:4330.
26:44Great, thanks.
26:46It's festival time in San Ignacio de Mojos.
26:49A dance parade honors indigenous communities.
26:53It's a day of celebration.
26:55It's festival time in San Ignacio de Mojos.
26:58A dance parade honors indigenous communities.
27:06Here come the machete bearers.
27:18They pretend to hold machetes to work the fields with.
27:23Everything is connected to nature.
27:25Everything acted out in the dances is ancestral.
27:34The more forest Bolivia loses,
27:36the more the lives and traditions of indigenous peoples will be at risk.
27:40But slash-and-burn agriculture and the illegal land trafficking
27:43it often goes hand-in-hand with is just one cause of the devastating fires.
27:48It would be easy to simply blame the farmers,
27:51but wealthy cattle traders, international companies
27:54and large-scale agricultural enterprises all contribute to the problem.
27:59For many, fire remains a part of daily life.
28:02The climax to this festival, too, is a fiery one.
28:21For more UN videos visit www.un.org