Bolivia to Celebrate Status as World Leader in Natural Tropical Forest Certification
Over 5 Million Acres Certified
Santa Cruz, Bolivia—October 7, 2005—On October 7, Bolivia will celebrate its status as the world leader in the certification of natural tropical forest, with over 5 million acres under certification.* The country's main celebrations will take place in Santa Cruz (at the EXPOCRUZ convention center) with a host of events involving government authorities, certified wood product businesses, as well as other national and international organizations related to the forestry sector. This is a highly significant achievement for Bolivia, because the international certified wood market is an important and growing source of jobs and export earnings.
Bolivia, almost as large as California and Texas combined, is one of the least developed Latin American countries. It is rich in biodiversity, however, and has 130 million acres of rich, expansive forests--more tree cover than all the countries of Central America and Mexico have between them, but the forests are highly threatened by illegal logging.
Bolivia’s Sustainable Forest Management Project (known as BOLFOR) was launched in 1993 by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help curtail this threat by promoting a market-based solution to encourage legal logging and discourage illegal practices. BOLFOR focuses on conservation and socioeconomic development through certification, a conservation tool that provides consumers with an internationally recognized guarantee that exported forest products come from responsibly managed forest. Bolivian forest products are not in direct competition with American forest products, as they are from tropical woods not grown in the U.S. Products from Bolivia compete with products from other countries that export tropical timber, such as Indonesia, Brazil, Gabon, and Cameroon. In 2003, USAID selected The Nature Conservancy to coordinate the second phase of the project, known as BOLFOR II.
The BOLFOR II project is supporting the certification of natural tropical forest working on the promotion of sustainable forest management and exports of Bolivian certified lumber and wood products. By opening markets and helping boost global awareness of the exporters of certified wood, BOLFOR II is also strengthening the supply of and demand for legally harvested and certified timber as well as products made from it.
The project also empowers communities to sustainably manage their forests, creating jobs and expanding economic opportunities in community-managed forests, including many run by indigenous communities. One unanticipated benefit of BOLFOR II is that women are playing an increasing role in running the community forestry enterprises, enhancing the women’s status and leading to improved incomes for their families. All this, while helping conserve Bolivia's forests.
* Brazil leads the world in tropical forest certification but Bolivia leads it in natural tropical forest.
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