[E-rundbrief] Info 910 - In Defence of Pachamama - Cochabamba-conference

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 910 - Franz Chávez (IPS): CLIMATE CHANGE-BOLIVIA: In
Defence of Pachamama. World People's Conference on Climate Change and
the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Bad Ischl, 21.4.2010

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CLIMATE CHANGE-BOLIVIA: In Defence of Pachamama

Franz Chávez

LA PAZ, Apr 16 (IPS) - Through their ancestral knowledge and
traditions, indigenous peoples will make a unique and invaluable
contribution to the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the
Rights of Mother Earth, which begins Monday, Apr. 19 in the central
Bolivian city of Cochabamba.

Julio Quette of the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern
Bolivia (CIDOB) told IPS that the 74 different indigenous groups who
inhabit South America's Amazon region ”have traditionally coexisted with
nature and the forests,” and that it is up to the industrialised
countries to halt the pollution and destruction of the planet.

For her part, Jenny Gruenberger, executive director of the
Environmental Defence League (LIDEMA), commented to IPS that ”Bolivia
could make an enormous contribution based on the traditional knowledge
of the indigenous and aboriginal nations that make up this
plurinational state.”

The country is officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia,
in recognition of the fact that over 60 percent of Bolivians belong to
one of its numerous indigenous ethnic groups.

A total of 17 working groups have been organised as part of the World
People's Conference, to address issues such as the structural causes of
climate change, living in harmony with nature, and the rights of Mother
Earth, or Pachamama.

The other working groups will focus on a proposed global referendum on
climate change; another proposal to establish a Climate Justice Tribunal
or International Environmental Court; climate migrants; indigenous
peoples; the climate debt; a ”shared vision” for action (a concept
introduced by developed countries under the Bali Action Plan adopted at
the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference); the Kyoto Protocol;
climate change adaptation; financing; technology transfer; forests; the
dangers of the carbon market; action strategies; and agriculture and
food sovereignty.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, who is an Aymara Indian himself,
announced that the conference will be attended by fellow presidents
Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Hugo Chávez of
Venezuela, and Fernando Lugo of Paraguay.

More than 15,000 people from 126 countries around the world have
registered to attend.

Among the prominent figures whose participation has been confirmed by
the Bolivian Foreign Ministry are Alberto Acosta, president of the
Constituent Assembly of Ecuador; Miguel D'Escoto, Nicaraguan diplomat
and former president of the United Nations General Assembly; and Edigio
Brunetto, a leader of Brazil's Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST).

In addition, more than 50 scientists, social movement leaders,
researchers, academics and artists from around the globe have agreed
to speak on 14 panels, including Indian environmentalist Vandana
Shiva, best-selling Canadian author Naomi Klein, and Uruguayan writer
Eduardo Galeano.

”Latin American organisations and governments could acquire all the
capacity they need to confront the influence of the industrialised
nations and become a centre of resistance against the current
development model, but first they need to agree upon a unified stance,”
LIDEMA research coordinator Marco Ribera commented to IPS.

Ribera said that it is time for the region's countries to put aside the
”different interests” they each pursue and to use the Cochabamba
conference as a forum to build ”strong technical and political
proposals with a high degree of legitimacy to negotiate at the 16th
Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change.”

Ribera believes the upcoming conference could become a new forum for the
struggle in defence of the planet, given the opportunity it will provide
for the world's people to express their views and proposals, ”an
opportunity they are not offered in official forums for international
negotiations.”

Justo Zapata, a Bolivian energy expert, spoke to IPS about one of the
issues that will be addressed at the conference: the campaign for the
use of ”clean” fuels.

Bolivia has the second largest reserves of natural gas in the Americas,
with proven and probable reserves of 49 trillion cubic feet. Yet the
population continues to consume large quantities of gasoline, liquefied
gas and diesel fuel, for which the government spends 500 million dollars
annually to subsidise low prices, said Zapata.

Venezuela provides the country with gasoline and gas oil, both highly
polluting fuels, while the population of the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo
enjoys the clean natural gas exported by Bolivia, he noted.

Rectifying this situation is a matter of both economic and environmental
defence, stressed Zapata, who called for large-scale initiatives such as
the construction of domestic natural gas pipelines to benefit the
population, as well as an end to neoliberal-inspired trade policies that
prioritise exports over the domestic market.

(END/IPS/LA WD EN IF CS IN KP SU/TRASP-LN-SW/FC/DM/10)

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