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Anyone who thinks that their vote has little impact is wrong. At least, in environmental matters. In just 16 months of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration as president of Brazil, all of its biodiversity is beginning to breathe easier. The Latin American giant lost a third less primary forests than in 2022 (36%); It is its lowest figure since 2015. And, globally, its contribution to the global loss went from 43% to 30%. Something similar happened in Colombia in 2023. Already under the mandate of Gustavo Petro, the Amazon country was able to retain half of the forests that it had lost the previous year, according to the latest data published this Thursday by the University of Maryland and the Resources Institute World Cups (WRI), available on Global Forest Watchwho applaud the governments involved in preserving the environment.
“Politics is important,” says Alejandra Laina, natural resources manager for WRI in Colombia. “In the last ten years, the environment and climate change have been gaining relevance in the programs of national and subnational governments. Before it was something very niche, which was fashionable. But now they are putting it almost at the same level as the economy and the populations.” However, the challenges are still many. The advance of some does not quite win the fight over the rest of the countries that, like Bolivia, continue to bet on livestock farming and monoculture; or Nicaragua, which saw more than 4.2% of its remaining natural forest disappear; They were the worst figures since the tropical storms of 2017. Thus, last year the planet lost 10 soccer fields of virgin soil per minute.
“It is clear that the world is still very far from its goals,” the report says. The data is brutal. In 2023, more than 3.7 million hectares of primary or virgin forest were degraded; an area similar to the extent of Bhutan. Bolivia, Nicaragua and Laos were the countries in the world that most counteracted the positive figures of Brazil and Colombia. Canada, on the other hand, tripled its forest loss, largely to fires. “The world took two steps forward and two steps back,” explained Mikaela Weisse, director of Global Forest Watch during the release of the report. “The sharp decline of [deforestación en] The Brazilian Amazon and Colombia show that progress is possible. We must learn from the countries that are managing to stop deforestation.”
Brazil's political will began to materialize from the beginning of Lula da Silva's mandate, this being one of the Government's great bets. More than three million hectares protected as protected areas, greater supervision of those who deforest, the hiring of 1,700 analysts or the protection of 230,000 kilometers of river banks are some of the star measures that have made the footprint of the Latin American country reduce. Even so, and due to its very extensive forest area, Brazil continues to be the country that lost the most primary forests.
For Laina, the keys to Colombia involve four fundamental points: greater governability of the communities “that also receive more economic resources”, understanding agrarian and environmental reform as “a single package”, sustainable forest management and policies of peace. “Colombia is a complex country and these discussions have to happen together. The communities are saying that until the issue of peace is resolved they cannot work on conservation. Only in this way can the territory be better managed.”
Overall, this study reveals year-on-year trends, the tropics lost 9% less primary forest in 2023 than in 2022. However, the statistic is stable: the rate in 2023 is almost identical to that of 2019 and 2021. Thus, in the last two decades, the world has lost between 3 and 4 million hectares of tropical forest each year. The continued bleeding is “especially discouraging” for analysts, who say it will be very difficult to achieve the commitment to halt forest loss by 2030 under the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration in less than six years. “Forests are critical ecosystems for fighting climate change, supporting livelihoods and protecting biodiversity,” said Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO of WRI at the press conference. “This year’s numbers are an inspiring example of what we can achieve when leaders prioritize action, but the data also highlights many urgent areas of opportunity to protect our forests and our future.”
Laina, the Colombian expert, assures that South America will have a great opportunity in the coming years with Cop 16, which will be held in Colombia, and Cop 30, in Brazil. “We have to think about how to bring both agendas together so that they are not parallel things working on the same thing. We have to focus on restoration goals, biodiversity conservation, and discussions with connectivity and availability of water resources. We can't leave that out. In the regions they feel disconnected from national goals, they feel that you speak to them in ancient Aramaic. And we have to change that chip”.
Bolivia, threatened by livestock and palm oil
The counterweight to Brazil and Colombia in the region is Bolivia. The data is shocking. From 2001 to 2022, Bolivia lost 3.73 million hectares of primary humid forest, representing 51% of its total loss of tree cover, according to the study. The total area of primary humid forest in Bolivia decreased by 9.1% in this period of time. But the experts' concern does not just stop at the numbers. When unfolding the map to locate the areas in which such erosion has occurred, the department of Beni appears, adjacent to Santa Cruz, where, historically, the highest rates of deforestation have been recorded as a result of livestock farming and soy monoculture. The country has lost 27% more forest than in 2022; breaking this unfortunate record for the third consecutive year, due to these new areas of exploitation. “It's the Wild West,” says Matthew Hansen, doctor in charge of the map study team.
“The Bolivian Amazon forest [ubicado en Beni] “It had hardly been affected until 2023,” laments Stasiek Czaplicki, an environmental economist. The expert in the value chains that promote deforestation points out, in addition to livestock farming, the “massive” palm plantations for oil and criticizes the complicity of the institutions. On a visit from the president Luis Arce to Beni at the end of 2022, was clear in his intentions: “We have a plan to stop importing diesel and liquid hydrocarbons. (…) From certain seedlings, the production of African palm, motacú oil, cusi oil, with that we can produce diesel. “It is an industrialization policy with import substituti
on.”
The Government of the Movement Towards Socialism has followed the roadmap drawn up by Evo Morales and which is summarized in the Patriotic Agenda 2025 developed by the former president. One of the pillars of the document is the goal of tripling the livestock population in the country, to exceed 22 million cows; around two heads of cattle per inhabitant. “We must increase meat production, not only for the domestic market, but with a view to export,” said Arce. on their social networks in January 2022.
These policies, monocultures, the El Niño and La Niña period and the country's severe droughts have not given a respite. 2023 has been extremely dry and has caused fires, commonly used by agricultural sectors, to spread uncontrollably for four months, much longer than normal. Thus, half of the forests that were lost in 2023 in Bolivia were due to fires. “Deforestation does not happen despite the Government, but thanks to the Government and the agribusiness. Control measures are needed for those who burn or deforest. “They cannot feel unpunished.”
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