The President of Bolivia launches the Green Lungs Program

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Bolivia’s President Luis Arce inaugurates the Pulmones Verdes project today in the municipality of El Alto by planting the first tree in a forest of native species to combat the climate crisis.

“The initiative arose from the Deputy Minister of Coordination and Government Administration, Gustavo Torrico, who initially proposed to start with a certain number of trees to create a small forest in the Alteña region,” said Gabriela Arauco, Director of Public Administration at the Deputy Ministry. Assigned to the presidential portfolio.

In an interview with Prensa Latina, Arauco stated that the support of other ministries led to progress towards a broader and more ambitious project.

“The first forest will be with an area of ​​five hectares and five thousand seedlings, and it will be not only the planting stage, but also the commitment to care until these trees reach the necessary size and give the expected result: improving the local climate and ecosystem and increasing water and forest levels in that environment,” he said.

The most important thing is that Pulmones Verdes will give the community access to cleaner air, the director explained to this news agency.

For his part, Torico stressed that “the ambitious national afforestation program for green lungs seeks to stimulate the so-called flying rivers.”

He described that these are huge atmospheric flows of water that move from the Amazon to the peaks in the form of steam and are the cause of rain and snowfall, which is why they are vital in agricultural production and in the lives of millions of people.

He explained that in order to promote this plan, the national government will stimulate the creation of the so-called Green Lungs Volunteer Army, composed of four thousand young people from 26 schools in the city of El Alto.

In coordination with the Ministry’s agency, they will be trained in land preparation tasks, irrigation, groundwater storage, and other techniques beneficial to the local climate.

After this first phase, they will plant five thousand trees of the Kiwinia and Kisuara species in more than five hectares of land at an altitude of four thousand and 748 meters above sea level in the indigenous community of Alto Meloni, District 13 of El Alto, in the region. From Chacaltaya, Andes mountain range.

Torico, who called for this idea not to be politicized, said, “What this project seeks is to generate thousands of forests throughout the national territory and set an example for the international community in the search for harmony with Mother Earth.”

He added: “We want it to be replicated across the country. We need thousands of small forests to change the climate and save the future, the water needed, and everyone who wants to join them.”

He added that evidence of this is the participation of public and private companies such as Banco Union and the National Hydrocarbons Agency. The Department of Public Productive Enterprise Development, the Bolivian Cement Company, Bajo Factories, the NGO World Vision, and others.

For his part, Environment Minister Rubén Méndez stressed that creating a healthy environment to live in is the task of all residents. For this reason, he urged people to join various initiatives to take care of the environment.

Pulmones Verdes promotes efforts to mitigate global warming, the effects of global warming, reduce permafrost, water loss and the climate crisis, which is why the state and society of Bolivia receive the support of the youth of El Alto, the public and private business community.

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