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Despite the national park designation, Madidi National Park lacks much government support for management and facililites, and most of the protection taking place to date is by EcoBolivia. To enforce protection of the park, EcoBolivia must go up against interest groups including lumber extractors, colonists, land speculators, commercial hunters, oil interests, miners, hydro-electric projects, and drug dealers. Rosa María has withstood political attacks on her reputation, an illegal order to cease work, and pressure to cancel financing for protection of the park.
In August 1998, the Bolivian National Congress authorized construction of the huge Bala dam on the Río Beni, which would flood more than 1,000 square miles inside the park. The dam will cost $3 billion to build, and most of its power would be exported to Brazil. Villages, irreplaceable plants and animal life, and eco-tourist lodges at three locations will be wiped out by the lake behind the dam.
Corruption can lead to government sale of contracts to corporations for the illegal extraction of resources, including mining of tin and other minerals and logging, especially of mahogany. The trucks pictured above are hauling out mahogany.
In the past, the government exiled criminals to this region, forcing them to become colonizers of the land. Colonizers have built roads, burnt the forest, and fished the rivers with dynamite – despoiling the environment and eroding the indigenous inhabitants' ability to maintain a subsistence livelihood.
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The fruits (partially concealed) of illegal logging are pictured above and below. Rosa María has trained the residents of more than 20 Tacana communities to manage and safeguard their communities. They act as park guides and rangers. Developing sustainable industries, such as agro-forestry and ecotourism, gives local inhabitants an alternative to working for the very companies whose damage to the environment threatens their lives and livelihoods.
The dwindling number of animals in the forest, such as spider monkeys, has provided dramatic evidence of the consequences unchecked exploitation of natural resources.
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Feb. '99 Journal
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