Increasing wildfire activity has led to complex ecosystem consequences, with direct effects on the subsystems that affect the presence and movement of water. Although studies have investigated the cascading effects of wildfires on the water balance, our understanding of broad-scale groundwater modifications post fire remains unclear. This review aims to elucidate fire-induced shifts in the water balance, their causal factors, and their potential effects on groundwater recharge. By scrutinizing prior research examples that modeled post-fire recharge scenarios, the review highlights persistent knowledge gaps. The challenge of quantifying and integrating fire-induced alterations in precipitation, wind, and land temperature patterns into recharge projection models is specifically addressed. Despite these gaps, post-fire values of hydrologically meaningful parameters such as leaf area index (LAI), curve number (CN), and near-surface saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_ST) have been identified. Simulating post-fire recharge via the extrapolation of these values requires the consideration of site-specific conditions, vegetation recovery, and ash removal. It frequently results in a reduced interception and increased surface runoff, while evapotranspiration remains dependent on site-specific factors and often dictates groundwater recharge estimates. Although post-fire recharge simulations are inherently complex and imprecise, their growing application can guide land-use alterations and support policy implementation that considers fire-induced water availability changes.

The Santa Cruz department in Bolivia is characterized by a wide range of ecosystems and by its richness in water resources. In recent years, extended drought caused by climate change has led to extensive fire events. Combined with deforestation, this is resulting in the degradation of the region’s ecosystems and water resources. To address restoration needs from both a land- and water-management perspective, this study proposes to prioritize restoration areas by applying a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) based on two main principles: (1) using the watershed as the main study unit and (2) involving stakeholders in the definition of priority watersheds. Local stakeholders selected criteria representing water resources, biophysical characteristics, land management, productive areas, and fire disaster threats, and reclassified the spatial information based on perceived importance. Different prioritization scenarios were developed and compared in a Google Earth Engine (GEE) application. Priority restoration areas largely depend on the weighting scheme. Focusing solely on past fires leads to prioritizing the south-east basins, while the conservation of the western watersheds becomes more important when increasing the weight of the water resources criteria. This study represents the first step in developing a participatory MCA tool at the watershed scale in Santa Cruz. Highlighting the impact of different prioritization criteria can support collective decision-making around land and watershed restoration.

In response to the escalating frequency and severity of wildfires, this study carried out a preliminary assessment of their impact on groundwater systems by simulating post-fire effects on groundwater recharge. The study focuses on the El Sutó spring area in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, a region that is susceptible to water scarcity and frequent wildfires. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Soil-Water-Balance model version 2.0 was utilized, adjusting soil texture and infiltration capacity parameters to reflect the changes induced by wildfire events. The findings indicated a significant decrease in groundwater recharge following a hypothetical high-severity wildfire, with an average reduction of approximately 39.5% in the first year post-fire. A partial recovery was modeled thereafter, resulting in an estimated long-term average reduction of 10%. Based on these results, the El Sutó spring was provisionally classified as having high vulnerability shortly after a wildfire and moderate vulnerability in the extended period. Building on these model-based impacts, a preliminary Fire-Related Forest Recharge Impact Score (FRIS) was proposed. This index is grounded in soil properties and recharge dynamics and is designed to assess hydrological vulnerability after wildfires in dry tropical forests. Although these findings remain exploratory, they offer a predictive framework intended to guide future studies and inform strategies for managing wildfire impacts on groundwater resources.

Groundwater provides global water security, supplying over half of the world’s drinking water. In Bolivia, it is particularly important for mitigating drought impacts and sustaining municipal supply. Yet national planning still lacks a clear picture of how groundwater recharge is changing. This study maps potential groundwater recharge change for all 338 municipalities from 1983 to 2022 and presents a policy-oriented risk indicator. Monthly precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET), and runoff (R) were obtained from TerraClimate (≈4 km) and FLDAS (≈10 km). A water-balance model converted these variables to potential groundwater recharge. Mann–Kendall and Theil–Sen statistics quantified long-term trends, and Pettitt’s test located years of abrupt change. The Annual Reduction of Potential Groundwater Recharge (RAPReHS) was derived to classify each municipality into one of five risk levels based on long-term groundwater recharge trends. Negative trends are significant in 65% of municipalities, and 71% record at least one breakpoint, most often between 2012 and 2015. Santa Cruz shows the steepest mean decline (–1.9 mm yr⁻¹), yet similar losses occur along the Chapare–Yungas corridor of La Paz and Cochabamba, the southern lowlands of Beni, and the Chaco of Tarija. By contrast, Pando and parts of northern Beni retain near-neutral or slightly positive slopes, highlighting strong hydro-climatic heterogeneity. Spatial comparison between RAPReHS results and, deforestation and fire statistics reveals strong alignment. Municipalities in the ‘high’ and ‘severe’ classes spatially overlap with the main zones of primary forest loss recorded in Bolivia between 2000 and 2022. The RAPReHS framework, therefore, provides a reproducible, policy-ready lens through which to track groundwater as land-use pressures and climate variability intensify.

This paper examines the role of women engineering geologists and geoscientists in disaster risk management (DRM) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), giving insights into how equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) influence technical performance, governance, and long-term resilience in hazard-prone contexts. The review analyses selected country cases (Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru), complemented by regional evidence from Brazil and Mexico, and draws on policy documents, institutional reports, professional initiatives, and applied community-based projects. The review indicates that women professionals contribute to DRM not only through technical expertise in geohazard assessment and mitigation but also by sustaining continuity in territorial engagement, facilitating communication between technical and non-technical actors, and strengthening the social legitimacy of risk management measures. Across the analysed cases, women engineers frequently occupy bridging roles that connect scientific evidence, local knowledge, and institutional decision-making, enhancing the effectiveness and durability of geotechnical interventions. This review of cases also identifies persistent constraints that affect both equity outcomes and engineering practice. These include the underrepresentation of women in senior and decision-making positions, fragmented implementation of EDI initiatives, and limited availability of gender-disaggregated and longitudinal workforce data. Such factors reduce institutional capacity for knowledge retention, monitoring, and adaptive risk governance. The findings indicate that inclusive participation, geoethical practice, and professional networks should be understood as core components of effective engineering geology and DRM. Strengthening gender-responsive data systems, leadership pathways, and professional coordination mechanisms is therefore essential to improve technical outcomes and societal resilience in the LAC region.