{"id":50386301,"date":"2023-12-14T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogochino.net\/?p=386301"},"modified":"2024-01-17T14:36:32","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T14:36:32","slug":"386301-deforestation-soars-in-bolivia-can-its-beef-be-more-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/forests\/386301-deforestation-soars-in-bolivia-can-its-beef-be-more-sustainable\/","title":{"rendered":"Deforestation soars in Bolivia: Can its beef be more sustainable?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sitting in the shade, Heinz Teetzen bites into a fresh watermelon to beat the heat. It is a weekend in late September and, unusually for the beginning of spring, thermometers are climbing as high as 41C, with temperature alerts<\/a> issued in seven of the nine departments in Bolivia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 86-year-old German, who has lived in Bolivia for more than 30 years, believes that the extreme heat is a consequence of the forests being cleared to make way for agriculture and livestock. In fact, the Juan Deriba farm which Teetzen owns, 124 kilometres from the country\u2019s largest city, Santa Cruz, is an island of sorts, in the middle of expanses of land planted mainly with soy and rice \u2013 but also home to cattle, which graze on vast pastures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teetzen’s concerns became more acute a few years ago. In 2019, Bolivia suffered one of the decade\u2019s worst forest fires due to factors such as the authorisation of \u201ccontrolled burns\u201d. That year alone, 5.7 million hectares of forest burned<\/a>, with land clearances said to have been encouraged<\/a> by the growing beef export market, including to China, which welcomed its first shipments<\/a> from Bolivia that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deforestation in Bolivia has reached similarly significant levels<\/a> in recent years, driven by agricultural expansion and irregular seizures of public lands, among other factors. But such losses have also prompted various organisations and individual farmers to seek to employ more sustainable methods of livestock farming, which target forest-friendly practices while remaining productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Record sales and government goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After a process<\/a> of diplomatic negotiations and preparation to help Bolivian producers meet Chinese import requirements, the first shipment of 48 tonnes of beef to China was finally made in August 2019. The then-president Evo Morales described it as a \u201chistoric<\/a>\u201d event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n