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.

• 
  
  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.
  
  

In the U.S.,
municipalities are passing laws lifting the rights of nature and
communities above those of corporations.

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.”

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.