State, Human and More-Than-Human Transformations in the Politics and Management of Tropical Forest Fires in the Chiquitanía, Bolivia

Abstract

Wildfires have become the leading cause of tropical forest loss and will likely intensify as climate change and global demand for agricultural products increase. This is particularly pronounced in the Amazon, where agriculture-driven fires are rising rapidly. Fire-degraded forests diminish access to forest products, leaving Indigenous communities more vulnerable to further environmental change. Although there is burgeoning attention to amplifying the voices of marginalised human communities, the question of how to include Nature's agency in research remains underdeveloped. To contribute to closing this gap, I developed a more-than-human political ecology framework that conceptualises and recognises more-than-human agents beyond their role as resources, drawing on land rights coding and posthumanist assemblage theory. Employing a case study of the devastating 2024 wildfires in Bolivia's Monte Verde Indigenous Territory, and using photovoice, participant observation, and interviews, I investigate issues of land reform, pyropolitics, and incendiary extractivism. My analysis demonstrates how fire's uncontrollable nature is weaponised in land struggles to advance a state-led productive development agenda. Forest loss by fire has resulted in more vulnerable relations between Indigenous peoples and their territory, as traditional fire users face prohibition policies and elevated fire risks. This research reveals that fire's role as a more-than-human agent is central to understanding how land rights are contested on this political frontier.