By Franz Chávez
LA PAZ, Sep 22 2005 (IPS)

Forest fires that have already devastated 800,000 hectares of Amazon jungle and grassland in northern Bolivia, along with heavy snowfall and intense cold in the Andean highlands in the south, forced the government to declare vast extensions of the country a disaster zone.

Over the past two weeks, the fire has destroyed 160,000 hectares of pasture land, cacao crops, beans and fruit trees around the town of Riberalta, the area that has been hit the hardest. Poverty and subsistence farming predominate in that region, located around 1,500 km north of La Paz.

Bolivian authorities are attempting to come up with a reliable estimate of the enormous losses caused by the worst fire ever seen in the provinces of Beni and Pando, which has uprooted hundreds of families and continues to move northwards.

Meanwhile, the Andean region of Sur Lípez in the southwestern province of Potosí was also included in the special assistance plan which is activated in the event of catastrophes in Bolivia, because heavy snows over the past week have left dozens of poor campesinos (small farmers) isolated and without food in that highlands region.

Experts are worried about the possibility of a repeat of the 2002 disaster, when a cold wave in the altiplano left dozens of people dead and caused major economic losses in that part of Bolivia and in southern Peru.

Bolivian President Eduardo Rodríguez declared a state of emergency Wednesday to facilitate the disbursement of funds urgently needed to provide assistance in the areas ravaged by the fires in the north and the extreme cold and snow in the south.

Up to now, the Defence Ministry had lacked the financial resources to address the emergencies, while Ombudsman Waldo Albarracín continued to demand immediate government aid for the victims of the disasters.

The cause of the fires in northern Bolivia has not yet been determined.

The smoke in the district of Vaca Diez in the province of Beni, near the Brazilian border, is so dense that the rescue teams have been unable to reach the area because flights were suspended due to the low visibility.

Experts speculate that fires set by local campesinos using the slash-and-burn technique to clear land for planting got out of control in the area, where temperatures have remained at a high 37 degrees celsius.

Although the slash-and-burn technique is illegal in Bolivia, there is little to no monitoring or enforcement of the ban, and the method continues to be widely used at this time of year in the country’s tropical region, generating dense smoke and air pollution that climbs all the way to the Andean altiplano.

According to a report provided to IPS by the Agrarian Superintendency, 473,173 hectares of forest and pasture land have already been lost to fire this month in the province of Beni.

But the total area affected by fire in the provinces of Beni, Pando and – to a lesser extent – the eastern Santa Cruz is estimated at 800,000 hectares, as indicated by satellite images.

Around the town of Riberalta, more than 600 families were forced to flee the flames, and the residents of 22 rural hamlets and villages have been evacuated to the town.

They have built shelters of wood and palm trees and have received food and clothing collected by volunteers around the country. Their future is uncertain due to the loss of their subsistence crops, like rice, bananas and yucca.

One of the main economic activities of poor families in the northern Amazon jungle region is harvesting chestnuts which are used to produce flour and oil.

Although the country’s potential is estimated at 100,000 tons a year of nuts, the total harvest currently amounts to just 30 percent of that.

In the first half of the 20th century, rubber, chestnuts and fine woods represented the main source of income for small farmers in the region. But the dwindling of these natural resources accentuated the poverty of the local campesinos and forced them to seek other sources of income.

Just as they were beginning to turn to alternative cash crops like cacao, beans or fruit trees, the fires started to rage, devouring everything in their path and putting an end to several years of efforts, said Armengol Caballero, the head of the Centre for Rural Research and Promotion (CIPCA).

A study by the Integrated Bolivian-Peruvian Action Programme on the natural wealth of the rural area around Riberalta identified 500 species of trees, 18 of which can be harvested for their wood.

Fire fighters, soldiers, and civilian volunteers are working in difficult conditions. Many are using shovels or even branches to fight back the flames, while the desperate plea for the Brazilian government to lend assistance with fire fighting planes has gone unanswered.

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