BOLIVIA: Rainforest Road Will Have Environmental and Cultural Impacts

•  la paz
• Wednesday, September 07, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Opponents of the proposed road also fear that it will open up the pristine rainforest nestled between the Isiboro and Sécure Rivers to the expansion of coca cultivation.

The national park, created in 1965, was demarcated in 1990 to cover a total of 12,362 square km, while the 10,910 sq km indigenous territory was officially established in 2009.

The forests and savannahs of TIPNIS extend from the Moxos plains in the northeastern department (province) of Beni to the sub-Andean mountain ranges of Cochabamba, ranging across different environmental strata from lowlands to altitudes of 2,700 metres above sea level.

In September of 2008, the Bolivian Highway Administration (ABC) estimated a total budget of 3.8 million dollars for the clearing of trees and clean-up of irrigation channels and land in a 1,530-hectare area of forest.

The road will stretch 306 km between Villa Tunari in the central department of Cochabamba and San Ignacio de Moxos in Beni, with a width of 7.3 meters, two-metre shoulders on each side, and a double-layer asphalt surface. The 177-km section that would run through TIPNIS requires an environmental permit that has yet to be issued.

At a total cost of 415 million dollars, 80 percent of it financed by Brazil, the Bolivian government’s main argument for the road is that it will integrate the 1.7 million inhabitants of Cochabamba and Beni while forming part of an international corridor for the transport of goods from Brazil to the Pacific Ocean.

For environmental analyst Teresa Flores, this high cost implies 'the use of huge amounts of materials like cement and iron and the operation of heavy machinery to clear the forests, which will have enormous impacts,' she told Tierramérica.

The risks to the area, home to 714 different species of fauna and 3,400 species of flora, are enormous, according to Gastón Cornejo, a former senator from the governing Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement to Socialism) party. The road will pave the way for the entry of projects to develop biofuels and transgenic crops, as well as herbicides and chemical products for the processing of marijuana and cocaine, which will also lead to increased crime and insecurity, he told Tierramérica.

An analysis conducted by the Bolivian Forum on the Environment and Development, made available to Tierramérica, compared the impact of the road with 'the passage of a tornado that would destroy everything in its path, with the expected disappearance of the 64 communities who live in TIPNIS,' comprising some 15,000 people from the Moxeño, Yuracaré and Chimane indigenous ethnic groups.

Bolivia is among the countries with the highest deforestation rates in the world. Every year, around 320 square metres of forest per capita are cleared, which is 20 times more than the estimated global average of 16 square metres per capita annually, according to Andrea Urioste, coordinator of the sustainable biotrade programme at the Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (Friends of Nature Foundation). The world loses around 130,000 sq km of forests - an area the size of Nicaragua - every year, added Urioste.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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