A Paraguayan ranch owner has been charged and fined US$270,000 in the wake of the country’s largest forest fire in 25 years, a conflagration that burned over 181,573 hectares (448,676 acres) in September, crossing into Bolivia. The fine, the biggest environmental penalty ever levied in the country, was prompted by what the government called “extremely serious” violations of environmental, wildlife, and air-quality regulations. Of the total area burned, 168,773 hectares (417,047 acres) was native forest in Paraguay’s portion of the Chaco region—a vast expanse of dry forest that also extends into Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil—and 12,800 hectares (31,629 acres) was pastureland. Some 14,200 hectares (35,089 acres) of the charred land belongs to Indigenous communities, and 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) form part of the Cerro Chovoreca Natural Monument. Cerro Chovoreca is a refuge known for ecologically important endemic species including plants such as the güembé (Philodendron undulatum...
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California Governor Gavin Newsom welcomed Mexican firefighters and emergency responders who arrived Jan. 11 to battle wildfires devastating the Los Angeles area. The 72-member Mexican contingent included firefighters and officials from the Mexican Army and federal environmental and civil protection agencies. Mexican crews were deployed for two weeks, extinguishing fires, building firebreaks, detecting hot spots, assisting with search and rescue, and conducting damage inspections in the devastated suburb of Altadena, among other tasks. According to Mexico’s National Forestry Commission (Conafor), the firefighters hailed from Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos and Veracruz. Termed an act of solidarity by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s assistance in combating the southern California blazes is the latest instance of U.S.-Mexico cooperation in firefighting that stretches back decades. Stephen Pyne, Arizona State University professor emeritus and author of a recent book on Mexican fire history, says that cooperation has...
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Mexico’s National Defense Ministry (Sedena) has hired a private company to control the “harmful fauna” they say affects the smooth running of the Tren Maya, the new train linking tourism destinations on the Yucatán Peninsula. Environmentalists say it is the train, not the fauna, that are harmful. They argue Sedena’s move compromises biodiversity protection—a key concern, they assert, given that the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) train route runs through the Selva Maya, the second largest tropical rainforest in the Americas after the Amazon. Among the fauna considered a threat to the train line’s operation are endangered species such as the jaguar (Panthera onca), tapir (tapirus) and whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus), as well as many other species of mammals, reptiles and even birds. The federal government-owned Tren Maya company, which Sedena operates, hired Susoma Soluciones Ambientales, a private company, to “control fauna” using pyrotechnics, nets, traps, tranquilizer guns and...
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