'Global red alert': forest loss hits record high - and Latin America is the heart of the inferno

With little state support, villagers are left to battle wildfires armed with little more than shovels and bottles of water ? Fires drove record loss of world's forests last yearWildfires engulfed vast swathes of South America last year, devastating ecosystems, closing schools and grounding flights. With its worst fire season on record, Bolivia was especially hard hit. "We felt powerless and angry to be unable to protect what is ours," says Isabel Surubí Pesoa.Surubí Pesoa was forced to migrate to the nearest town after the spring that fed her village in Bolivia's eastern lowlands dried up after the fires and the drought that preceded it. "It's very painful," she says. Continue reading...