Bolivian community uses science to protect chiquitano forest
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In Peniel, a small community in Bolivia’s Chiquitano region, residents now use a wooden board to determine daily if fires can be set or must be prohibited.
After devastating fires swept through their territory, people combined traditional knowledge with scientific tools to protect their forest. Angélica Rivera and Emmanuel Weber lead a community network that monitors weather, organizes agricultural burns, and acts as a first line of defense against wildfires.
This work protects the 45 residents of Peniel, but also a strategically important corridor whose loss could trigger a regional environmental disaster. Each morning, Angélica Rivera measures air humidity, temperature, and rainfall before adjusting a handmade wooden sign, dubbed the “risk meter”, to reflect the level of fire danger. The sign’s colors, dark green, light green, yellow, orange, and red, indicate whether controlled burning is safe or if it must be prohibited.
Rivera, the community risk management delegate, uses this data to create a “communal burning calendar,” mapping when residents plan to burn land and coordinating with them to ensure burns occur only when conditions are safe. If the risk meter shows orange or red, burning is forbidden. This system arose after fires in 2019 and 2024 destroyed over 60% of the community’s traditional lands, prompting residents to become volunteer firefighters.
The community’s efforts are supported by the Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN), which provides training and resources. This collaboration extends to neighboring communities, creating a network to prevent and respond to fires, safeguarding not only local livelihoods but also the larger Ñembi Guasu reserve, one of the largest in the Chaco ecosystem, and potentially preventing fires from spreading into Paraguay.
