Illegal Deforestation Sweeps 186,500 Hectares of Bolivia’s Amazon Indigenous Lands

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What changed?

A joint investigation by Amazonía Traficada, the Pulitzer Center, Mongabay, RAI Bolivia, and Asuntos Centrales has uncovered a massive loss of forest in the Bolivian Amazon. Between 2003 and 2023, 186,500 hectares (460,900 acres) were cleared across 48 Indigenous territories—about three times the size of Madrid. Only 10% of that area was cleared with official authorization from the Bolivian Authority for the Supervision and Social Control of Forests and Land (ABT); the remaining 90%, or 168,670 hectares (416,800 acres), was cleared illegally. The largest single blow came in the Isoso territory, where more than 43,000 hectares (106,000 acres) of Guaraní land were taken for large‑scale soy cultivation. Indigenous leader Rivelino Segundo says the clearing is driven by land invasions and an expanding agricultural frontier, not by the communities themselves.

Why it matters

The unchecked deforestation threatens biodiversity, climate regulation, and the cultural heritage of Bolivia’s Indigenous peoples, while fueling global soy production that fuels further forest loss.