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La Paz, April 26 (EFE) - The Bolivian Ombudsman's Office warned about the damage caused by forest fires in 2024, which affected more than 12.6 million hectares of forests and grasslands, a figure that exceeds "all historical records."
In a statement, the ombudsman's office detailed that last year, "forest fires and uncontrolled burning devastated 12,658,157 hectares in Bolivia, surpassing all historical records."
"Of this affected area, 7,215,149 hectares (57%) were forests and 5,443,008 hectares (43%) were grasslands. These events severely affected Indigenous and Native Peasant Nations and Peoples (NPIOC) and biodiversity," the agency stated.
The Ombudsman's Office praised the "initial efforts" of government entities to comply with a constitutional resolution issued in October 2024 and promoted by the Ombudsman's Office itself "in light of the serious effects and impacts of forest fires and uncontrolled burning" reported across the country.
However, he also considered that these efforts were "insufficient in the face of the serious risk of a repeat of the environmental crisis in 2024."
For this reason, the organization expressed its "deep concern for the protection" of ecosystems and urged national, regional, and municipal authorities "to prioritize and seriously take the necessary foresight and prevention measures to avoid the recurrence of environmental impacts like those recorded in the last two decades."
He also reaffirmed the need for the State to provide "public accounts" and report on the progress of its preventive plans and actions to prevent a repeat of what happened in 2024.
Fires are a recurring problem in Bolivia between June and October, and in many cases, the blazes are attributed to "slash-and-burn" (chaqueos), controlled burnings used to clear land for farming or grazing.
Indigenous people and environmentalists have repeatedly called on the Executive Branch to repeal the so-called "incendiary laws," the regulations that have authorized slash-and-burn forestry for several years.
The Luis Arce administration had to declare a "national disaster" due to the magnitude of the fires that occurred in 2024, which exceeded the 5.2 million hectares burned nationwide in 2019, which until then was the year with the most damage.
The Ombudsman's Office stated that a few days ago, it participated "as an observer" in a call from the Ministry of Environment and Water for the development of the 2025 Forest Fire Prevention Action Plan.
Among the objectives of this strategy are "to meet the demands for human, financial, technical, and logistical resources necessary to prevent, control, and respond effectively to the threat of forest fires in coordination with the Autonomous Territorial Entities," he added. EFE
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