LA PAZ: Environmentalists in Bolivia warned on Thursday (Friday in Manila) of a marked increase in forest fires this year that threaten a repeat of the environmental disaster that ravaged much of the Amazon in 2019. Bolivia registered 15,354 forest fires in the first four months of the year — a 35-percent increase on the same period last year, the Friends of Nature Foundation (FAN) said. The deliberate burning is mainly to expand agricultural land, the nongovernment organization (NGO) added. The fires “are in agricultural areas, meaning that what is being detected corresponds to burning areas for agricultural use,” FAN activist Carlos Pinto. But the NGO said “current climatic conditions are favorable to avoid large scale fires,” as dry season was still months away.

Source: Manila Times May 01, 2020 16:16 UTC