Soaring demand from China for Bolivian beef is fueling wildfires and deforestation as cattle ranchers slash and burn jungle in the Amazon ecosystem to make way for cattle pastures. The problem has escalated since April 2019 when then-president and leader of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party Evo Morales signed an agreement with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The deal tripled the total demand for Bolivia’s beef exports. In August that year, Morales announced the inaugural shipment of two containers of beef to China, despite an official report showing that 38,610 acres of the Chiquitania region of Santa Cruz had already burned due to the shift from land cultivation to the creation of cattle pasture to meet Chinese demand. In December, the Ministry of Defense reported 4,472 families suffered losses from the fires that followed, along with 98 related injuries, one death, and 40 million trees incinerated. In the municipality of Porongo, which lies …