/ 8 July 2004

Bolivia’s chainsaw massacre

Residents of Apolo in north-east Bolivia have been using chainsaws to open a path through Madidi National Park, which the country’s government and conservationists say will mostly benefit illegal exports of precious wood.

This nature reserve is under threat as work crews cut down everything in their path in a straight line to the neighbouring town of Ixiamas.

The swathe through the reserve has been promoted by an alliance of community groups, farmers’ associations with highly politicised leaders, truck drivers from the region, and suppliers of food and consumer goods.

The creation of this route has been challenged by the government’s National Protected Areas Service (Sernap) because it crosses a central swathe of the park and would destroy the headwater areas of rivers and watersheds located in zones with high levels of precipitation. A road in the area could trigger huge landslides and damage the water sources that supply the farmland and towns on the plains, according to Sernap .

There are no other human settlements along the road and conservation experts fear that illegal loggers would use it to get to valuable trees that are threatened with extinction, such as the caoba, or big-leaf mahogany.

Arturo Bowles, general manager of the National Chamber of Forestry, which represents logging companies, insists its members respect conservation regulations and says none hold concessions in the area.

The government created the park in 1995 at the urging of environmental groups, including Conservation International (CI). It is an area of varied geography, with permanently snow-capped peaks, cloud forests, dry tropical forest, Amazonian rainforest and savannah or pampas.

About 1 000 bird species, or 11% of the world’s total, are found in these parts, says CI, as are big mammals such as the jaguar, spectacled bear, tapir, capybara and several primate species.

The Bolivian government has recorded 4 739 plant species. The fate of the park appears to be caught up in the common dilemma of “conservation or development”, but Sernap director Oscar Loayza says it is “an undeniable and non-negotiable duty to protect the nation’s natural heritage”.

The reserve is an instrument for “supporting the sustainable development of populations that have lived in the region since time immemorial and of the peoples who historically have been associated with the sustainable use of their natural resources”, he says.

Loayza highlights the successful experience of community participation in the production of high-quality coffee varieties that are competitive on the international market.

Another project associated with conservation is ecotourism at the Chalalán Ecolodge, promoted by the community of San José de Uchupiamonas, in the central part of the park. It does $500 000 in business annually.

The residents of Apolo and Ixiamas say their road project will not hurt the forest’s natural wealth and demand a road linking the two towns —which, says Sernap, produce the same goods and engage in little direct trade with each other.

The National Agrarian Reform Institute aims to grant land titles to the indigenous community in an area covering 189 000ha in the integrated management and reserve area of the national park. Among the indigenous groups that have yet to take a stand on the issue are the Araona, with 100 members, and the Tacana, who are 5 000 strong.

The Araona live under pressure from loggers and illegal nut gatherers in an area recognised by the government in 1992 as community-held ancestral lands. Their leaders are calling for an expansion of that territory in order to halt the ongoing threat from logging companies and lumber scavengers. The Tacana suffer similar problems.

Last week the La Paz authorities proposed an alternative route between Apolo and Ixiamas. The dialogue had come to a halt on June 5 this year when Sernap presented a technical report stating that the national park would be endangered by a route through its central area, but now the agency says it is willing to return to the negotiating table. — Tierramérica/IPS