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2019-09-06 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
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Bolivia has lost 1.7 million hectares to fire: government
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[DAWN] Wildfires raging in Bolivia's forests and grasslands since May have destroyed 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres), officials said Wednesday, amid an $11 million effort by the government to contain them.
Environmentalists blame laws enacted under leftist President Evo Morales, who has encouraged the burning of forest and pasture land to expand agricultural production, while the government attributes the blazes to dry weather and winds.
"Of the fires that have occurred, 41 percent are in protected areas and 30 percent are in forests," Cinthia Asin, environmental minister for the eastern region of Santa Cruz told the press, updating the amount of land burned to 1.7 million hectares.
Santa Cruz is the hardest hit of Bolivia's departments since the fires began in May and intensified in late August.
Much to environmentalists' chagrin, Bolivia's government recently authorized farmers to burn 20 hectares (almost 50 acres) instead of the usual five hectares (12 acres) -- which is believed to have contributed to thousands of wildfires.
Asin said that over the first days of September, 751 new fires blazed, mostly in forested areas, leading Santa Cruz officials to believe that humans had started the conflagrations to clear farmland.
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Posted by Fred 2019-09-06 00:00||
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Posted by Vernal Hatrick 2019-09-06 12:21||
2019-09-06 12:21||
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Posted by USN, Ret. 2019-09-06 14:55||
2019-09-06 14:55||
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