South America: Bolivia - deforestation - These images, from Landsats 2, 4, and 7, show...

South America: Bolivia - deforestation - These images, from Landsats 2, 4, and 7, show the progression of deforestation in Bolivia from 1975 to 2000. This area lies east of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, in an area of tropical dry forest. Since the mid-1980s, the resettlement of people from the Altiplano (the Andean high plains) and a large agricultural development effort (the Tierras Baja project) has lead to this area's deforestation. Soybean production began in earnest in the early 1970s following a substantial increase in the crop's world price. By the late 1980s, soybeans represented the country's most important oilseed crop. In 1988, soybean production amounted to about 150,000 tons. About 1/3 of the soybean harvest was used domestically in the form of soybean meal for the poultry industry. Other soybean meal was shipped to Peru and western Europe, and raw soybeans were exported via rail to Brazil. Locally manufactured soybean oil also competed with contraband products from neighboring countries. Most of Santa Cruz's soybean farmers were members of the well - organized and powerful National Association of Soybean Producers (Asociacion Nacional de Productores de Soya - Anpo). The town in the Southwest is Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Holy Cross of the Mountains), Bolivia. With a population of 904,376, it is the second largest city in Bolivia. Until 1950, mules transported all goods in and out of the city. The pie or radial patterned fields are part of the San Javier resettlement scheme. At the center of each unit is a small community that includes a church, bar/cafe, school, and soccer field - the essentials of life in rural Bolivia. The rectangular, light colored areas are fields of soybeans cultivated for export, mostly funded by foreign loans. The dark strips running through the fields are windbreaks, which are advantageous because the soils in this area are fine and prone to wind erosion