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The Law of Mother Earth: Behind Bolivia’s Historic Bill
an article by Nick Buxton
{This article is taken from Yes! Magazine where it was posted on the Internet on April 21, 2011.)
Indigenous
and campesino (small-scale farmer) movements in the Andean nation of
Bolivia are on the verge of pushing through one of the most radical
environmental bills in global history. The "Mother Earth" law under
debate in Bolivia's legislature will almost certainly be approved, as it
has already been agreed to by the majority governing party, Movimiento
Al Socialismo (MAS).
A boy at the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia
Photo by Kris Krug in Yes! Magazine
click on photo to enlarge
The
law draws deeply on indigenous concepts that view nature as a sacred
home, the Pachamama (Mother Earth) on which we intimately depend. As the
law states, "Mother Earth is a living dynamic system made up of the
undivided community of all living beings, who are all interconnected,
interdependent and complementary, sharing a common destiny."
The law would give nature legal rights, specifically the rights
to life and regeneration, biodiversity, water, clean air, balance, and
restoration. Bolivia's law mandates a fundamental ecological
reorientation of Bolivia's economy and society, requiring all existing
and future laws to adapt to the Mother Earth law and accept the
ecological limits set by nature. It calls for public policy to be guided
by Sumaj Kawsay (an indigenous concept meaning "living well," or living
in harmony with nature and people), rather than the current focus on
producing more goods and stimulating consumption.
In practical terms, the law requires the government to
transition from non-renewable to renewable energy; to develop new
economic indicators that will assess the ecological impact of all
economic activity; to carry out ecological audits of all private and
state companies; to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; to
develop policies of food and renewable energy sovereignty; to research
and invest resources in energy efficiency, ecological practices, and
organic agriculture; and to require all companies and individuals to be
accountable for environmental contamination with a duty to restore
damaged environments.
The law will be backed up by a new Ministry of Mother Earth, an
inter-Ministry Advisory Council, and an Ombudsman. Undarico Pinto,
leader of the 3.5 million-strong campesino movement CSUTCB, which helped
draft the law, believes this legislation represents a turning point in
Bolivian law: "Existing laws are not strong enough. This will make
industry more transparent. It will allow people to regulate industry at
national, regional, and local levels."
Article is continued on discussion page.
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DISCUSSION
Question(s) related to this article:
What is the relation between the environment and peace?
Thematic forum(s) in which this article is being discussed:
ECOLOGY - ECOLOGIE
COMPLETE REPORTS
Latest reader comment:
(Continuation of The Law of Mother Earth - Bolivia)
However,
there is also strong awareness among Bolivia's social movements—in
particular for the Pacto de Unidad (Unity Pact), a coalition of the
country's five largest social movements and a key force behind the
law—that the existence of a new law will not be enough to prompt real
change in environmental practices
A major obstacle is the fact
that Bolivia is structurally dependent on extractive industries - Since
the discovery of silver by the Spanish in the 16th Century, Bolivia's
history has been tied to ruthless exploitation of its people and its
environment in order to transfer wealth to the richest countries; poet
and historian Eduardo Galeano’s famous book Open Veins draws largely on
the brutal story of how Bolivia's exploitation fuelled the industrial
expansion of Europe - In 2010, 70 percent of Bolivia's exports were
still in the form of minerals, gas, and oil - This structural dependence
will be very difficult to unravel
Moreover, there is a great
deal of opposition from powerful sectors, particularly mining and
agro-industrial enterprises, to any ecological laws that would threaten
profits - The main organization of soya producers, which claimed that
the law “will make the productive sector inviable,” is one of many
powerful groups who have already come out against the law - Within the
government, there are many ministries and officials that would also like
the law to remain nothing more than a visionary but ultimately
meaningless statement
Raul Prada, one of the advisors to Pacto de
Unidad, explained that the Mother Earth law was developed by Bolivia's
largest social movements in response to their perceived exclusion from
policy-making by the MAS government, led by indigenous President Evo
Morales. They have generally supported MAS since its resounding election
victory in 2005, but were frustrated by what they saw as a lack of
progress - Rather than merely expressing their concern, these
movements—comprised mainly of indigenous and farming communities—are
pro-actively developing a series of new laws - Their first priority was
the passage of the Mother Earth Law, based on a commitment made at the
historic global Peoples Conference on Climate Change held in Bolivia in
April 2010 - To some surprise, the diverse movements soon developed a
consensual agreement that was supported by MAS legislators
Raul
Prada notes that, even with significant pressure from social movements,
transitioning to an economy based on the concept Vivir Bien will not be
easy: “It is going to be difficult to transit from an extractive economy
- We clearly can't close mines straight away, but we can develop a
model where this economy has less and less weight - It will need
policies developed in participation with movements, particularly in
areas such as food sovereignty - It will need redirection of investment
and policies towards different ecological models of development - It
will need the cooperation of the international community to develop
regional economies that complement each other”
Ultimately,
though, this is a challenge far bigger than Bolivia, says Prada: “Our
ecological and social crisis is not just a problem for Bolivia or
Ecuador; it is a problem for all of us. We need to pull together
peoples, researchers, and communities to develop real concrete
alternatives so that the dominant systems of exploitation don't just
continue by default. This is not an easy task, but I believe with
international solidarity, we can and must succeed”
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Nick
Buxton wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit
media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions - He
spent four years in Bolivia learning from movements fighting for social
and environmental justice
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