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🇧🇴 Bolivia /Environment & Climate

Forests open new opportunities through ecosystem services and carbon credits

From El Deber · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Participants at Bolivia’s III Forestry Symposium 2026 examined carbon credits and other ecosystem services as alternatives to income based solely on timber.
  • Speakers presented projects involving carbon credits, indigenous communities, biodiversity, water protection and ecotourism, along with forest-service certification initiatives.
  • The symposium ended with working groups on forest policy and the inclusion of ecosystem services in community forest-management plans.

Forests are being viewed as more than sources of timber. At a forestry symposium in Concepción, communities, companies, specialists, nongovernmental organizations and state representatives examined economic opportunities linked to conservation and responsible forest management.

The III Forestry Symposium 2026, titled “The importance of forest ecosystem services under forest management,” took place on Saturday, Sept. 5, during the sixth Chiquitania Forestry Fair. The Bolivian Council for Voluntary Forest Certification, FSC Bolivia, organized the event.

Eduardo Sandoval, an external adviser to FSC Bolivia, said the meeting showcased experiences pointing to an emerging international market for services generated by forests. He cited Exomad Green, which has already placed carbon credits, and a project led by the Friends of Nature Foundation with indigenous communities in the municipality of Charagua.

“These experiences are showing us that the forest is not only timber,” Sandoval said. Keeping forests standing can generate benefits through carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, protection of water sources through the hydrological cycle and ecotourism, among other services.

The event also presented the certification of ecosystem services in the Tucabaca Natural Heritage Conservation Unit, promoted by the Santa Cruz departmental government with support from the Bolivian Forest Chamber. Other sessions covered the Forest and Land Authority’s new approach, community forest management, opportunities in the Chaco forests, and a framework law on climate and biodiversity financing.

The symposium closed with working groups tasked with developing recommendations on forest policy and incorporating ecosystem services into community forest-management plans. Sandoval said participants also highlighted the need for further debate and for progress on regulations being prepared by the Vice Ministry, which he described as essential to consolidating projects linked to carbon, biodiversity and other ecosystem services.

These experiences are showing us that the forest is not only timber.

· Eduardo SandovalThe FSC Bolivia adviser described the broader economic value of standing forests.
About this summary

Originally published by El Deber in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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