(ANSA) - LA PAZ, OCTOBER 10 - The president of Bolivia JeanineAñez yesterday signed a decree declaring the 'disaster' due to the forest fires and drought that have affected a large part of the country, while authorizing the Foreign Ministry to ask for international aid to cope with this emergency.
The head of state said, according to the press agency Abi, that "this is a necessity, we have strong threats and we do not want what happened last year to repeat itself, so I believe that at the moment we still have time to intervene and correct the situation. ".
Among other things, the decree states that "the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be able to try to obtain the necessary international help from all States and international organizations willing to cooperate with the Bolivian State".
In addition, public institutions and bodies are empowered, within their competences, to make adjustments in the budgets to deal with this emergency.
Showing the seriousness of the situation, the Minister of the Environment, María Elva Pinckert, announced that this year 1,393,000 hectares of forest, undergrowth and pasture were lost in various regions of the country, a figure much lower than that recorded in 2019 when the flames destroyed. 4.5 million hectares.
(HANDLE).