Seth Robbins

May 2, 2024 | insightcrime.org | Juan Cárdenas |Seth Robbins

Deforestation has reached alarming levels in Bolivia. The main driver of tree cover loss – loss of the canopy – is the rise in slash-and-burn land clearance practices. Settlers often start the human-caused fires to clear space to grow soy and raise livestock. These fires often get out of control. The battle against deforestation is complex. Producing soy and beef for export benefits the agribusiness industry and powerful economic elites with ties to the government.

May 2, 2024 | insightcrime.org | Juan Cárdenas |Seth Robbins

For years in Bolivia, high-value woods like cedar and the mara variety of mahogany have been felled to feed domestic and international construction and furniture markets. But these valuable timbers have been harvested almost to the point of extinction. Now, trafficking networks and family clans are pushing deeper into the country’s Amazon and protected areas, including national parks and natural reserves, where remaining valuable species are supposedly protected.

May 2, 2024 | insightcrime.org | Juan Cárdenas |Seth Robbins

Bolivia is the world’s third-largest producer of coca, after Colombia and Peru, and a key crossroads for cocaine and other drugs. Coca crops are grown legally across 22,000 hectares in the Yungas region and the Cochabamba Tropics. However, coca plantations are spreading outside these regions into remote corners of Bolivia’s Amazon as farmers attempt to meet the international demand for cocaine.

May 2, 2024 | insightcrime.org | Juan Cárdenas |Seth Robbins

Bolivia es el tercer productor mundial de coca, después de Colombia y Perú, y un cruce clave para la cocaína y otras drogas. Los cultivos de coca se extienden legalmente por 22.000 hectáreas en la región de los Yungas y el Trópico de Cochabamba. Sin embargo, las plantaciones de coca se están extendiendo fuera de estas regiones, a rincones remotos de la Amazonía boliviana, en un intento de los agricultores por satisfacer la demanda internacional de cocaína.

May 2, 2024 | insightcrime.org | Juan Cárdenas |Seth Robbins

Durante años, en Bolivia se han talado maderas valiosas, como el cedro y la variedad mara de la caoba, para abastecer los mercados nacionales e internacionales de la construcción y el mobiliario. Sin embargo, estas valiosas maderas han sido taladas casi hasta su extinción.