Fighting deforestation: Bolivia's green gains the media isn't talking about
Fighting deforestation: Bolivia's green gains the media isn't talking about
Monday, July 27, 2015
By Federico Fuentes
When Bolivian President Evo Morales announced in May that his government was allowing oil and gas drilling in national parks, mainstream and progressive media outlets alike were quick to condemn his supposed hypocrisy on environmental issues.
Writing for the Associated Press, Frank Bajak argued that although Morales is known internationally for his outspoken campaigning on climate change, at home he faces constant criticism from conservationists “who say he puts extraction ahead of clean water and forests”.
Bajak said this contradiction was a result of Morales’ strategy of developing extractive industries as a means of cutting poverty, regardless of the environmental cost.
Similarly, Emily Achtenberg wrote on the progressive NACLA website that Morales’ announcement highlighted a central contradiction his government faces, that is, having relied on oil and gas to finance successful wealth redistribution programs, his government now finds itself “at odds with indigenous, environmental, and other civil society organizations who argue that extractivism destroys nature and communities…”
More:
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59596