A World Bank forest rescue program has been given a multi-million "kickstart" by Germany. Norway has done a deal with Gabon that it sustains its tropical forests to absorb carbon dioxide and help avert climate warming.
Wildfire in Indonesia's South Sumatra province earlier this monthImage: Getty Images/AFP/A. Qodir
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German Development Minister Gerd Müller signed a €200 million ($210 million) pledge from Germany in New York on Monday to launch ProGreen, a World Bank program to stem deforestation amid climate change.
Signing for the World Bank, its president David Malpass said ProGreen built on existing initiatives and focused on improving forest policies nation-by-nation by bringing together "rarely coordinated" sectors.
The World Bank said Earth's remaining forests were under "increasing pressure" while providing habitat for 78% of the world's poor, with one-third of total land areas already degraded "at an estimated annual cost of US$300 billion."
Müller said 11% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) could be traced to deforestation.
"We must stop this immediately," said Müller, adding "the green lungs of our planet are burning."
Every four seconds a football-sized area of the Amazon had been logged and turned mostly into soy and palm-oil plantations, he said.
Aside from the €200 million, Germany also pledged a further €30 million for the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) and €20 million to support indigenous peoples.
France, too, just ahead of the UN Climate Summit in New York, pledged $100 million for tropical forest protection, including the Amazon.
August 23: protest outside Brazil's London embassy over Amazon firesImage: AFP/Getty Images
Norway on Sunday signed a contract under the CAFI to pay the central African nation of Gabon €10 for every ton of carbon absorbed and therefore not emitted — up to a maximum of 150 million over ten years.
The agreement will reward past performance — verified results since 2016 compared to the previous phase of 2005 to 2014 — as well as future results to be paid annually until 2025.
Gabon's forest minister Lee White said: "they [Norway] will pay us because we have not deforested, and because we've managed logging responsibly, and reduced emissions linked to logging."
"Gabon is 88% covered with forests," said Norwegian Climate and Environment Minister Ola Elvestuen, describing the deal as a "major breakthrough" for the African continent.
CAFI also spans five other African countries — Cameroon, Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, the Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea.
Bolivian firefighters, meanwhile, said they were exhausted and demoralized from battling blazes still scorching drought-stricken lowlands outlying Concepcion.
Wildfires span 4.1 million hectares (16,000 square miles).
"If we keep destroying the Amazon forest, we will soon reach the tipping point where the forest loses its capacity to recycle humidity and precipitation, said Lykke Andersen, a Bolivian sustainability expert.
Burning across the border: Fires rage in Bolivia
The Amazon is burning, but not just in Brazil. In the Chiquitania region of Bolivia, firefighters have risked their lives to combat fires in the dry forest and farmland in the countryside.
Image: DW/Juan Gabriel Estellano
Scorched earth
According to official numbers, wildfires have burned through more than 1 million hectares of dry forest and farmland in Bolivia. In the area of Santa Rosa de Tucabaca in the country's eastern Chiquitania region, the fires have raged for over a month, threatening indigenous populations and devastating Bolivia's rich biodiversity.
Image: DW/Juan Gabriel Estellano
An ominous glow
Out-of-control wildfires light up the night sky. The unique Chiquitania region — characterized by both savannah and forest — experienced a severe drought this year. It's common practice for farmers to start small, easily-monitored fires during the months of July and August to prepare the soil for the next harvest. But many have quickly spread this season and morphed into wildfires.
Image: DW/Juan Gabriel Estellano
Slash-and-burn
Areas of forest which have already been cut down are more likely to catch alight. Many of the fires in Bolivia were started by small farmers after President Evo Morales passed legislation in July that encourages slash-and-burn farming to open up new land for agricultural use. Morales has been accused of pushing populist policies and failing to act quickly to contain the wildfires.
Image: DW/Juan Gabriel Estellano
A growing disaster
The fires are still expanding through the Chiquitania region. Indigenous people have been affected, including the Chiquitanos and the Ayoreos peoples, who produce citrus fruits, beans, rice, and corn.
Image: DW/Juan Gabriel Estellano
Losing livelihoods
Vania Montenegro Aranibar (39) is a local farmer from the village of Peniel, where she cultivates lemons, passion fruits and avocados. The fire quickly surrounded her property, destroying her fields and killing her ducks. "They died in half an hour because their feathers caught on fire," she told DW. "I'm very sad how many animals must have been burned, how many species, trees."
Image: DW/Juan Gabriel Estellano
Nowhere to run
This anteater was just one of countless animals caught in the fires which passed through the area of Chochis. Firefighters on the ground have described heartbreaking scenes of terrified animals fleeing from the flames, including armadillos, snakes, tapirs and jaguars. Those who survived are now at risk of starvation due to the lack of food and water.
Image: DW/Juan Gabriel Estellano
Fighting back
Firefighters Moises Soria Valverde and Ronald Picolomini visit a badly affected area in Santa Rosa de Tucabaca. Alongside other firefighters, they are helping with efforts to try and control the massive wildfires. They cut through the dense forest with machetes and try to extinguish the flames with 20 liter water tanks on their backs. But the battle still feels like an impossible fight.
Image: DW/Juan Gabriel Estellano
Impossible to reach
Outside of the village of Robore, the wildfires have now spread to areas mostly inaccessible to firefighters. The Chiquitano dry forests are part of an ecoregion connecting the tropical Amazon biome with the semiarid Gran Chaco region, which stretches into western Paraguay, northern Argentina and part of Brazil.
Image: DW/Juan Gabriel Estellano
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Indonesia, which has also spent months battling fires, said Monday it was studying a plan to mete out harsh penalties to firms that ignited forest and peatlands.
Rasio Ridho Sani, law enforcement director at Indonesia's environment ministry, said new rules would allow seizure of profits from individuals and firms, often palm oil and timber companies, behind infernos.
An estimated 320,000 hectares (790,000 acres) of forest was gutted from January to August this year, making it Indonesia's worst such damage since 2015.
