One law that has already made it through the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies could radically change how environmental concerns are dealt with.
The Mother Earth Law is the first of its kind, not just in Bolivia, but in the world. The purpose is to set up an Earth defendant department, much like a public defender, Mendez said.
“This law says that mother earth has rights and is a very different concept for the world,” said Javier Mendez Vedia, science and life editor for El Deber, the largest newspaper in Bolivia. “It is the first law to give rights to the mother earth. For example, water is not subject to commerce anymore. It is a human right and that is revolutionary.”
While most who know about the bill support it, most Bolivian residents are unfamiliar with it and what it would do for the country.
The writing of the Mother Earth Law is vague, reading more like a mission statement than a set of strict rules.
The right to water is huge for Bolivians after the Cochabamba Water War of 2000, where residents protested in Bolivia’s third largest city after the city’s water supply company Semapa privatized and increased prices. However, the new law does not present a clear plan of action on how to prevent privatization or pollution of the water supply.
The law’s second article outlines the six ideals the defendants of the Earth, who have yet to be appointed, are to uphold: harmony, collective good, regeneration of Mother Earth, respect and rights of the Mother Earth, no commercialism, and multiculturalism.
“The Mother Earth Law is interesting if you understand it, but many can’t understand because it was written for people who think differently about the environment,” said Pamela Rebolledo, department of climate change coordinator. “To understand this law you have to change your mind to take on a different perspective. You have to analyze your own behavior to understand the law.”
Bolivia is one of the first countries to have an environmental department. The Environmental Education Center of Santa Cruz has worked to bridge the gap between government environmental action and community involvement, said Rebolledo, who works in the department’s new facility.
“We work with campaigns and social media, any way to get the information out,” Rebolledo said. “We need to, through education, make people understand what the government is doing, we can transfer the technology and knowledge so that the people can appropriate our work. They need to be a part of the action. Communities have to support and join our projects.”
It is easier for those who live off of the land to see the day-to-day effects of climate change and environmental changes, Rebolledo said, but as more Bolivians move into large cities like Santa Cruz, fewer are concerned about these issues.
According to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the most pressing environmental issues in Bolivia are “the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical timber that are contributing to deforestation, soil erosion and poor cultivation methods.”
Despite what most people may picture when they think of South American life, today almost 70 percent of the population of Santa Cruz lives in the metropolitan area. Most do not understand that eventually the resources that the Bolivian industries are capitalizing on will run out if the country does not implement a more sustainable practices, Rebolledo said.
“We need more motivation and advertisement to encourage people. Most people don’t care much about the environment,” Rebolledo said. “Economy and production don’t have a good relationship with the environment and that is the reason we are like the fifth wheel of the car.”
While some worry environmental laws will try to overregulate their farms and other businesses, many environmentalist understand that there is no stopping development and no wanting to, said Cesar Perez, head of Gaia Pacha Foundation in Santa Cruz. However, it is the way in which a city or country develops that is important.
“Sometimes, the environmental point of view is seen as a counter development philosophy, which is not true,” Perez said. “We are looking for a different type of development and not necessarily traditional development. Not this neoclassical economy that is addicted to oil and is based on destructivism. It is a matter of thinking long term.”
While clearing trees for farmland may seem like the best use of resources in the short run, mass deforestation will lead to larger issues later, Perez said.
“If we cut down all the forest to have more soy farms for example, those forests are water factories for many other crops and communities, and we will no longer have that resource,” Perez said.
Through the Gaia Pacha Foundation, Perez started an Earthkeepers program in Santa Cruz. This program is the first of its kind in any Spanish-speaking or Latin American country and works to educate 10- to 11-year-old students, teachers and parents about the environment in a nontraditional way.
“I had a lot of experience in environmental education and felt frustrated because there was no way to measure change in behavior, values or attitudes,” Perez said. “That’s I was motivated to look for a behavior change model like the Earthkeepers. I’m passionate about it because this is a tool that I think that works.”
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