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Fires Burn Out of Control |
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By Franz Chávez*
The
residents of Santa Cruz, Bolivia are suffering the effects of air
pollution caused by more than 2,000 forest fires that were started
to clear land for crops and cattle.
LA PAZ - The rash of intentionally set fires
to expand farmland and grazing areas means that the residents of
the central Bolivian city of Santa Cruz are breathing air that has
more than twice the level of suspended particles than the maximum
allowed by health authorities.
On Sep. 16 and 17, the team from the ''Clean Air'' project of Swiss
Contact, an international aid group, found in Santa Cruz there was
as much as 400 micrograms of suspended particulate matter per cubic
meter of air, when the standard limit is 150 micrograms.
The suspended particles are liquids or solids, invisible to the
naked eye, and able to travel great distances in the air, persisting
over time and causing respiratory ailments.
Satellite images revealed 2,383 points of forest fires in semi-tropical
regions and plains over an area of 167,343 hectares, and prompted
LIDEMA, a local environmental defense league, to issue a forceful
call for a complete ban on the annual practice of ''chaqueos'',
the burning of land to extend the agricultural frontier.
Members of the Bolivian armed forces and Civil Defense have been
mobilized by land and air, along with volunteers, in an effort to
halt the advance of the flames and to rescue families surrounded
by fires burning out of control.
At least two people -- a child and an elderly man -- have died as
a result of the fires, which are burning in the departments of Santa
Cruz, Beni, Cochabamba, La Paz and Tarija.
Dense clouds of smoke have made commercial flights difficult and
have caused delays at the airports.
The inhabitants of the eastern area have been hardest hit, in health
terms, from breathing in the suspended particles, which accumulate
in the lungs, causing respiratory ailments, says Orlando Vásquez,
an advisor with the Clean Air project.
On the days with most smoke in the air, incidence of headaches increased
sharply among the population, exposed to massive amounts of carbon
oxides, as did the incidence of eye irritation and pinkeye, he told
Tierramérica.
LIDEMA, a coalition of non-governmental groups, warned about the
long-term effects of the burnings, which have a direct relationship
to climate change, drought and erosion.
The coordinator of the league's training program, Edwin Alvarado
Terrazas, cited the threat of loss of biodiversity in a country
that is among the top 10 in terms of biological wealth of flora
and fauna.
Along with the vegetation, microorganisms are burned that help fertilize
the soil, he said in conversation with Tierramérica.
Unlike the western Andean region, where ''chaqueos'' are an old
practice, but kept under control, in the east the expansion of cattle
ranches and soybean fields has fueled indiscriminate burning of
vast swaths of forest, affecting dozens of families, said the activist.
In general, a typical peasant farmer in Bolivia's Andean region
burns half-hectare areas, but the cattle ranchers and soy growers
in the east are clearing the land by the hundreds of hectares, he
said.
Bolivian law allows controlled burns, but Alvarado said the government
does not effectively monitor the practice, and said it would be
preferable to invalidate all of the permits for ''chaqueos''.
LIDEMA suggests creating a national fire prevention system, one
with sufficient financial resources and made up of civil society
groups and specialized institutions. This system would have the
authority to implement preventative and monitoring measures.
Bolivia's existing environmental law calls for a four-year prison
sentence for persons found guilty of starting fires on property
they do not own, cropland or pastures, intentionally or accidentally.
The league is calling for the rigorous application of that and other
laws, with trials and penalties to make examples of those who engage
in burning, harmful to the environment and human health.
* Franz Chávez is a Tierramérica contributor.
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