Bolivia has been grappling with significant deforestation, with recent incidents in the Pando Department underscoring the country's environmental challenges. Over the past two decades, Bolivia has experienced a net loss in tree cover of approximately 5.61%, a stark indicator of the environmental degradation taking place. Shifting agriculture has been identified as the primary driver of tree cover loss, contributing to over half of the deforestation, followed by forestry activities and wildfires.
The data reveals a disturbing trend of escalating tree cover loss, with the most recent year, 2022, showing an increase of nearly 600,000 hectares lost. This is a significant jump from the previous years, reflecting an intensifying issue that threatens the country's rich biodiversity and contributes to global climate change concerns.
Explore country profileThe single fire alert recorded on October 17, 2024, in Pando Department, may seem minor in isolation, but it is a symptom of a much larger problem that Bolivia faces. The cumulative impact of these losses is substantial, considering that Bolivia's tree cover represents a significant portion of the Amazon rainforest, which is crucial for carbon sequestration and maintaining global ecological balance.
