BOLIVIA

Over 54% of Bolivia is forested and there is considerable rainforest cover in lowland areas. The Bolivian Amazon covers nearly 57 million ha, of which approximately two-thirds is forested. Half of Bolivia's forest cover is primary forest.

Until 1990, deforestation was not a significant problem, however, the rate doubled during the 1990s with the loss of an average of over 270,000 ha per year. Key reasons for the destruction included the granting of 20 million ha of forest to timber companies by the government, and clearance for soybean and cocoa cultivation. The government did pass laws requiring the timber companies to replant forests, but loopholes resulted in the regulations being bypassed. In addition, much timber was logged illegally and smuggled over the border into Brazil, from where it was exported as Brazilian wood.

However, in recent years, more than 2 million ha of forest has been certified, making Bolivia the leading country in tropical forest certification, according to WWF. Certified forest products are a significant income generator, bringing $16m into the county from export earnings in 2005.

There are still concerns about the future of Bolivia's forests. Oil and gas development, the expansion of commercial agriculture, fuelwood collection, and land clearing for cattle grazing all threaten the sustainability of the forests. Many fires started for land clearing burn out of control and in 2005, 500,000 ha were destroyed by fire. As population pressures increase, these threats will grow.

Bolivia is benefiting from a number of initiatives aimed at protecting its forests. Its extreme poverty and high levels of debt has, unusually, presented potential opportunities; Conservation International initiated the first 'debt for nature' swap in 1987, purchasing $650,000 worth of debt for $100,000; in exchange for being relieved of a significant proportion of the debt, Bolivia agreed to set aside funds to promote conservation. The initiative proved successful and led to further partnerships with the US and others. The Timber Trade Action Plan (TTAP) will also be rolled out into Bolivia shortly.

Bolivia is one of 14 countries which will receive funds under the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, which will reward countries for preserving their forest cover. The countries will receive grants to build their capacity for REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), including establishing emissions reference levels, adopting strategies to reduce deforestation, and designing monitoring systems.

Bolivia is a member of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO) which has developed criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management and a platform for dialogue between national forestry authorities, and is examining the potential for digital surveying of the regions vegetation cover. ACTO believes that the REDD mechanism provides an opportunity for Amazon countries to design policies to rectify environmental degradation.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
01/12/2012	Atlas of Pressures and Threats to Indigenous Lands in the Brazilian Amazon This report presents a complementary and integrated view of different forms of intervention in the Amazon ...	Amazonian Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information (RAISG)
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03/09/2012	Policy Options to Reduce Deforestation Based on a Systematic Analysis of Drivers and Agents in Lowland Bolivia The reduction of tropical deforestation is of crucial importance for mitigating climate change and curbing ...	Land Use Policy (Robert Müller, Till Pistorius, Sophia Rohde, Gerhard Gerold, Pablo Pacheco)
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15/06/2012	FLEGT, VPA, EUTR and Their Possible Impact on the Bolivian Timber Sector This study was developed at the request of the Timber Task Force (TTF) in Bolivia and its ally in The ...	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands
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30/11/2011	Off the Market: Bolivian Forests and Struggles Over Climate Change This report connects the dots between the global debate over forest protection and the complex realities ...	Democracy Center
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24/05/2011	Roads as Drivers of Change: Trajectories Across the Tri-National Frontier in MAP, the Southwestern Amazon Regional studies of land cover change are often limited by available data and in terms of comparability ...	Remote Sensing (J Southworth, M Marsik, Y Qiu, S Perz, G Cumming, F Stevens, K Rocha, A Duchelle, G Barnes)
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01/12/2010	Chainsaw Milling: Supplier to Local Markets Chainsaw milling, the on-site conversion of logs into lumber using chainsaws, is supplying a large proportion ...	ETFRN (European Tropical Forest Research Network)
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27/11/2009	Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project: Position of Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN–Bolivia) on Greenpeace's Report In the report entitled "Carbon ...	Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN–Bolivia)
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15/10/2009	Carbon Scam: Noel Kempff Climate Action Project and the Push for Sub-national Forest Offsets In 1997 three energy giants, American Electric Power (AEP), BP-Amoco (BP), and Pacificorp entered into ...	Greenpeace
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01/03/2008	Timber Trade Action Plan News - Issue 3 This issue relates events and developments worldwide that are inputting into the illegal logging debate, ...	Timber Trade Action Plan (Switzerland)
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10/04/2006	Guidelines for formulating and implementing national action plans to combat illegal logging and other forest crime Many of the governments and stakeholders involved with the ENA FLEG process have indicated that they ...	World Bank
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
28/01/2013	Bolivia takes step to boost agriculture and curb surging deforestation Bolivia has passed a land use law that aims to boost food security and slow deforestation in a region ...	Mongabay.com
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14/01/2013	Bolivia: deforestation decree protested In a ceremony at Los Tajibos hotel and convention center in Santa Cruz, Bolivia's President Evo ...	World War 4 Report
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06/12/2012	Deforestation rate falls across Amazon rainforest countries The average annual rate of deforestation across Amazon rainforest countries dropped sharply in the second ...	Mongabay.com
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29/10/2012	Deforestation increases Agribusiness and fires destroy extensive areas of woodlands. Bolivia loses 300,000 hectares (740,000 ...	Latin America Press
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06/09/2012	Guess who's chopping down the Amazon now? Though Brazil's Amazon has been the focus of environmental groups for decades, the deforestation ...	NPR (National Public Radio), Washington, US
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03/09/2012	Cattle ranching and law enforcement key areas of action to slow Bolivia’s deforestation rate Bogor, Indonesia - Policy makers seeking to slow the pace of deforestation in lowland Bolivia need to ...	CIFOR Forests Blog
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31/08/2012	Amazon forest threat is greater outside Brazil In Ascencion, Bolivia — On a scorching afternoon in the Amazon, all Agustin Villa and his partner ...	The Washington Post, US
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27/08/2012	In Bolivia, a battle over a highway and a way of life Growing conflicts over development in South America have come to a head in Bolivia, where indigenous ...	Yale Environment 360
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14/05/2012	Representatives of the Amazon countries participate in the Monitoring Project Steering Committee The first meeting of Steering Committee of Project “Monitoring Deforestation, Land Use and Land ...	ACTO (Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation)
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25/04/2012	Bolivian opposition leader involved in illegal logging The president of the Interagency Committee of San Ignacio de Moxos, Maria Teresa Selum, accused the leader ...	Prensa Latina
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22/03/2012	Paving the Amazon: Study helps predict potential deforestation rates along major highways Bogor, Indonesia - CIFOR scientists are helping to estimate the extent of deforestation that accompanies ...	CIFOR Forests Blog
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16/02/2012	ACTO countries explore possible cooperation to combat illegal timber harvesting The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) held a workshop on the control of illegal harvesting ...	IISD Biodiversity Update
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03/02/2012	Deforestation threatens Brazil's wetland sanctuary The Pantanal, a stunning biodiversity sanctuary in central-western Brazil, is threatened by intensive ...	Physorg.com
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09/01/2012	Peruvian gangs traffic timber from Brazil Peruvian groups carry out illegal logging in Brazil before transporting the wood along tributaries of ...	InSight Crime, US / Colombia
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15/12/2011	Little headway in Durban on deforestation: experts Brasilia - The UN's Durban conference on climate change failed to make enough headway in efforts ...	AFP
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27/11/2011	8 Amazon countries pledge more coordination in rainforest conservation Eight Amazon countries pledged greater cooperation in efforts to protect the world's largest rainforest ...	Mongabay.com
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22/11/2011	Amazon countries vow to enhance conservation efforts Manaus, Brazil — Eight South American countries pledged Tuesday to boost cooperation to protect ...	AFP
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17/08/2011	Indigenous Bolivians gather to protest road through Amazon rainforest On Monday, August 15, more than 500 protesters from a range of indigenous groups began a march in the ...	International Business Times
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19/05/2011	Deforestation devours rich ecosystems La Paz, Bolivia - Occupations of land for agriculture over the last four decades in Bolivia, whether ...	IPS News
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30/04/2011	Climate change measures must be made corruption proof As governments prepare to spend up to US$100 billion annually by 2020 to limit climate change and prepare ...	Transparency International
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21/12/2010	Why Bolivia stood alone in opposing the Cancún climate agreement We were accused of being obstructionist, obstinate and unrealistic. But we feel an enormous obligation ...	Guardian, UK
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15/12/2010	Deforestation sparks giant rodent invasions Capybara are expanding into areas of deforestation throughout South America, reports a new study conducted ...	Mongabay.com
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11/03/2010	Noel Kempff project is 'saving the forest' by forcing destruction elsewhere Forest conservation project in Bolivia proves that unless a nation as a whole cuts deforestation, individual ...	Guardian, UK
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30/10/2009	Environmental group disputes effectiveness of REDD project A major private-sector project to reduce carbon emissions through forest management in Bolivia is a ‘scam’, ...	ICTSD
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04/08/2009	Logging curbs Deep in the worlds tropical rainforests, workers are hammering thousands of barcodes into hardwood trees ...	The Star, Malaysia
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10/07/2009	British company barcodes trees to protect forests London - Deep in the world's tropical rainforests, workers are hammering thousands of barcodes into ...	Reuters UK
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02/07/2009	REDD readiness plans for Panama, Guyana approved but rejected for Indonesia The World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) has approved REDD readiness plans (R-Plans) ...	Mongabay.com
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19/02/2009	Amazon rainforest in big trouble, says UN Economic development could doom the Amazon warns a comprehensive new report from the United Nations Environment ...	Mongabay.com
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12/02/2009	Payments for eco services could save the Amazon Paying for the ecological services provided by the Amazon rainforest could be the key to saving it, reports ...	Mongabay.com
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08/10/2008	Indonesia, Papua NG, Vietnam ask UN for assistance to combat deforestation Hanoi - Three of Asias most rapidly deforesting countries - Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam - ...	Green Assembly Asia Environment
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24/07/2008	14 countries win REDD funding to protect tropical forests Fourteen countries have been selected by the World Bank to receive funds for conserving their tropical ...	Mongabay.com
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16/02/2008	Latin America: Deforestation still winning Mexico City - Never before have Latin America and the Caribbean fought so hard against deforestation, ...	IPS News Agency
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29/01/2007	Nuevas technologías satelitales revelan que el bosque amazónico desaparece para siempre, peros dos veces más rápido de lo creído New satellite technologies reveal the rate of Amazonian deforestation is double what was previously suspected ...	ALBA (Bolivia)
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17/11/2005	Nigeria has worst deforestation rate, FAO revises figures Nigeria has the world's highest deforestation rate of primary forests according to revised deforestation ...	Mongabay.com
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PRESENTATIONS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
27/01/2011	International public-private partnerships for strengthening the valus chain of sustainable tropical timber	Petra Hamers, The Amazon Alternative
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08/07/2009	Contribution to the AWG-LCA and to the Chair's Note entitled "ldeas and proposals on paragraph 1 of the Bali Action Plan"	Beatriz Souviron, Ambassador of Bolivia to the United Kingdom
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23/06/2009	TFT update - progress and challenges	Annie Adams, Tropical Forest Trust (TFT)
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17/01/2008	Forest Law Application Initiative - ALFA	Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (Carlos Aragon)
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EVENTS

DATE	TITLE
Wednesday 20th June 2012	ACTO Member Countries Vision of Amazon Forests. Monitoring Deforestation This official Rio+20 side event is organised by ACTO (Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation). ACTO ...
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LINKS

TITLE	DESCRIPTION	REPORT
RainFor - the Amazon Forest Inventory Network	The Amazon Forest Inventory Network is an international network that has been established to understand the biomass and dynamics of Amazonian forests. Since 2000 we have established a systematic framework for long-term monitoring of this region, which holds more biodiversity, water, and vegetation carbon, than any other region of the planet. RAINFOR has worked step-by-step, including partners across the nations of Amazon, taking account of the potentially strong modulating role of environmental variables like soil nutrition, and the need to help develop a new generation of Amazon ecologists. RAINFOR is curently supported by the Andes and Amazon Initiative of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.	Broken link
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