Bolivian president warns of Amazon loss, calls for regional conservation agreements

Rodriguez Faz Porera told the U.N. General Assembly that Bolivia has seen a sharp decline in forest cover over the past decade and that protecting the Amazon is a shared regional responsibility. "In the last 10 years, we've gone from 57% of a territory which around in the world represented forest reserves to less than 50% of that reforestation," he said, and added that Bolivia could not ask the world to protect its forests if it did not also act at home.

He called for agreements with neighboring countries that share the Amazon to stop predatory activities such as illegal logging and gold smuggling and emphasized that protecting biodiversity must include benefits for indigenous peoples and local communities. The president tied conservation to Bolivia's broader development goals and asked for international cooperation to conserve the Amazon as "the lung of the world."