GOOD NEWS : BOLIVIA
SAFEGUARDING THE BAJO PARAGUÁ
BOLIVIA
Rainforest Trust and our partner , Fundación Natura Bolivia , recently safeguarded nearly the entirety of Eastern Bolivia ’ s Bajo Paraguá forest .
During the terrible fire season of 2020 , nearly 10 % of the Bajo Paraguá was burned . If this destruction continued , the entire forest — an area one and a half times the size of Delaware — would have been completely lost in the next decade , taking the livelihoods and culture , the very being of the Indigenous Guarasug ’ we people with it .
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To hold the line , Rainforest Trust and Fundación Natura Bolivia joined forces with the Guarasug ’ we and local governments to create the Bajo Paraguá San Ignacio de Velasco Municipal Area and Bajo Paraguá - Concepción Municipal Natural Park , saving over 2 million acres of this lowland rainforest , which also stores 337,162,504 metric tons of carbon .
The Bajo Paraguá is ground zero in the fight to save the Amazon Rainforest , and although the region has been protected , we still have a lot of work to do . In order to ensure the safety of this land in perpetuity , our partner will train , equip and deploy patrols and fire brigades to protect the forest and the Guarasug ’ we .
Some additional forest loss is perhaps inevitable , but we are certain that this work will secure the remaining forest habitat . Over time , areas that were damaged by fire will be restored , and this Amazon frontier will be maintained .
THIS PAGE : COTOPATA NATIONAL PARK , BOLIVIA BY JESS KRAFT / SHUTTERSTOCK ; LEFT : PISO FERME , BOLIVIA BY FUNDACIÓN NATURA BOLIVIA