A citizen pact from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to the world

Here we are in the forests of the Amazon, the Yungas and the Valleys, the Chiquitania and the Bolivian Chaco. Because of our forests, Bolivia has had the privilege of being the 3rd most mega diverse country in the world, and we were among the 15 countries with the largest amount of certified tropical forests in the world.

For several decades, we were blessed with an institutional vision that ensured the department of Santa Cruz located east of Bolivia had approximately 12 million hectares of protected areas. But in parallel, another vision was gaining strength by rapidly expanding the encroachment of agricultural and livestock areas, ignoring the strategic planning and regulations of territorial order in force, affecting even protected areas and forest reserves and putting the balance of ecosystems at risk.

Year after year, we started to notice climate change impacts with increasing intensity; our rainy season is shorter than before and we now have a longer dry season, higher temperatures and more intense rains. Harmful impacts were not long behind: we have seen loss of biodiversity, with flora and fauna disappearing at an accelerated pace, erosion, forest fires, floods, and water shortages.

Reliable statistical data shows that up to 2013 almost 6 million hectares were deforested in Tierras Bajas and Yungas; 78% of this corresponds to the Department of Santa Cruz. The Chiquitano and Cerrado forests are among the most affected, displacing indigenous communities from their homes and their migration to cities.

With so much evidence of climatic changes, it is no longer possible to ignore the interdependent relationship between forests and human beings. We are united by a cord that binds us to life. We ARE the forests of these eco diverse regions, forests who to a great extent regulate and harmonize, our rains, the quality of our air and even the climate of the rest of the world.

The challenge is now to turn towards sustainability, to understand that development must not go down the path of depletion of natural resources and biodiversity, and rather to achieve a new pact by which citizens and their authorities consider the conservation of the forests as our inescapable ethical and moral duty.

This pact, framed in the objectives of sustainable development, will not prevent nor is it against a productive agenda linked to food security of our region and our country. On the contrary, it is about seeking balance, adopting forest valuation policies, promoting the efficient use of land, and developing sustainable productive systems.

From Santa Cruz and radiating to all of Bolivia and the world, those who voluntarily decide to sign this open letter are essentially concerned citizens who want to contribute to changing an unsustainable state of affairs.

We are independent young people, or we are part of environmental organizations and collectives; we are representatives of social, civic, political, business and environmental organizations that recognize the leading role we have in the defense and care of natural resources that were entrusted to our leadership. We are opinion leaders and representatives of guilds, unions, and institutions of civil society and renowned personalities who have an influence on society.