Asociación Prodefensa de la Naturaleza / PRODENA
May 22, Biodiversity Day
Madidi National Park, located in the southern tropical Andes, is one of Bolivia’s most important protected areas. This natural gem figures among the most biologically rich areas in the world, with an exceptional diversity of Andean ecosystems – most of which are highly endangered – and an enormous variety of endemic species and threatened animals.
On May 17th the park was invaded by a motorized group of 45 people from the nearby community of Apolo, armed with rifles, shotguns, machetes and chainsaws. Among their demands are the aperture of the park to oil exploration, the construction of the Apolo-Ixiamas road – which would cut through the area’s intangible zone –, and the cancellation of the Lecos Indigenous Community Lands (Tierras Comunitarias de Origen – TCOs), placing the park’s biological at stake.
After decades of lobbying and propaganda from politicians and entrepreneurs eager to access the park’s natural resources, Apolo’s residents share the belief that the park is an “impediment to their development”. The following manifest is a protest against the pervasive forces which are acting to overthrow the park’s authority and open it to pillage. We invite you to join.
Manifest
We condemn the occupation of Madidi National Park by the Apolo residents who are planning to invade the area and have threatened to set fire to the park if the government doesn’t give into their demands. The invaders are manipulated by economic groups that have made several attempts at suppressing the area’s protection status.
We support the park’s interim director, José Luis Haward, who has solicited intervention from the government against the recent invasions to the park’s core area in relation to the Apolo – Azariamas road, which was opened last year illegally by the Prefecture of La Paz.
The park’s invaders took over two ranger stations and a vehicle pertaining to the National Parks Service (Servicio Nacional de Areas Protegidas – SERNAP) and forced the 17 park rangers to withdraw with heavy threats.
The SERNAP recently informed that, “trucks loaded with mahogany have been witnessed leaving the park”, confirming that illegal loggers are taking advantage of the current state of lawlessness to access these highly coveted resources, purportedly the last in the entire region.
If left to pursue, this invasion will lead to the rapid and total plunder of the park’s natural resources and annihilate all its tourism potential.
In the light of the afore-listed arguments, we urge the President Evo Morales to order the immediate evacuation of the park, thereby being consistent with his declaration that: “We are one of the most privileged regions in the world in terms of natural resources, water and biodiversity. This forces us to be extremely responsible with these resources, which cannot be considered as just another commodity, regardless of their importance as the source of life on this planet”.
In addition, we request that:
1. the government immediately re-establish legal order in Madidi National Park and that SERNAP recover control over the park.
2. an official commission composed of representatives from the National Government, the Prefecture of La Paz and the INRA (Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria) persuade the invaders to leave the area, resorting to public forces against those who refusing to surrender.
3. the Ministerio de Desarrollo Rural, Agropecuario y Medio Ambiente regain and strengthen its control over the area, and that the Ministerio de Planificación de Desarrollo enforce the local zoning plan, the land titles and La Paz Department’s Land Use Plan.
4. the Prefecture of La Paz, as the competent environmental authority over the area, enforce the ruling environmental laws and regulations and abandon the construction of the illegal road that has fostered the invasions.
5. the perpetrators of those invasions and illegal loggers be brought to justice in order to deter future infractions.
We urge the international environmental and international aid community, which have invested considerable resources in the park’s creation and conservation, to take a stand in the park’s defence and to ask the Bolivian government to honour its national and international biodiversity conservation engagements.
We declare that we will not spare any effort to act against this unacceptable assault against our country’s natural heritage.
We signal that in the absence of tangible and effective measures against the destruction of Madidi National Park, history will judge the government as being responsible for one of the worst sackings of the country’s and the world’s biological heritage.
We invite all the citizens concerned about the planet’s biodiversity to take part in this campaign by sending an email to:
President Evo Morales at the following address:
http://www.presidencia.gov.bo/presidencia (follow link “Cartas al Presidente”)
Susana Rivero, Ministry of Rural Development (Ministerio de Desarrollo Rural), despacho@agrobolivia.gov.bo
Adrian Nogales, SERNAP director: info@sernap.gov.bo
With copy to prodena@extremate.net
Apolo residents marching in the street with chainsaws, guns and machetes, shouting slogans against the park
Caravan of 4×4 vehicles leaving town with the intention to occupy the park
Teresa Flores Bedreal, President