Journalist and human rights activist David Hill (5.92.97) features in the recently released documentary film Bolivia Burning about the under-reported deforestation crisis that is gripping Bolivia, where more tropical primary forest is being razed than almost any other country in the world.
Produced by the UK-based Gecko Project, Bolivia Burning follows Hill and Bolivian lawyer and activist Alvaro Bozo Garcia into the Santa Cruz region as much of it is engulfed by the worst fires in the 200 year history of the country.
Tracking Hill and Bozo Garcia to one of the remotest parts of the country, the film explores some of the reasons why the fires and deforestation rates in Bolivia have become so severe – principally, legislation and government policies combined with global demand for beef and soy. Ultimately, the focus of Bolivia Burning is on members of a little-known ultra-Conservative Christian denomination, the Mennonites, who have been clearing huge areas of forest in order to cultivate soy.
“Many people in the UK and elsewhere know that tropical forests around the world are disappearing at a frightening rate, but there’s much less awareness that Bolivia is one of the countries that is most impacted,” David says. “Our film’s aim is to change that. What is unfolding there is a genuine environmental catastrophe.”
Released internationally on 16th September, Bolivia Burning has been screened at several venues in Bolivia and the Long Night of the Climate festival in Berlin.
Watch the film on The Gecko Project’s YouTube channel, here.