On February 10, the European Union Parliament called for a “new climate diplomacy” where a coordinated EU strategy will work closely with progressive developing and emerging economies. Bolivia’s leadership thinks it's about time. In January, populist Bolivian President Evo Morales announced a three-day conference on climate change to serve as an alternative to Copenhagen. The meeting will focus on the rights of indigenous peoples and climate debt—something major, developed emitters owe the rest of the world. Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in South America, will host the climate forum in April in Cochabamba, the city famous for the 2000 “Water Wars” against the privatization of municipal water supply. David Choquehuanca, Bolivia's foreign minister, expects around 5,000 foreigners to attend the April event including activists, scientists, and public servants.
“Bolivia was one of the very few delegations that brought indigenous people to Copenhagen in order to show that talks shouldn't be top-down," says Claudia Aßmann, a consultant with the Bolivian government who joined the delegation in Copenhagen. Aßmann emphasizes that climate debt is a crucial part of Bolivia’s climate change policy strategy as outlined by their chief climate negotiator Angelica Navarro. Navarro defines Bolivia's goals as persuading developed nations to establish and fulfill domestic emissions reductions, finance large-scale adaptation projects, and technological transfer to developing countries. Migration and climate refugees are also among the topics to be discussed in April.
What Brought Bolivia Here
Politics and financial motives aside, Bolivia has already documented the negative side-effects of changing global temperatures.
As this New York Times video from last December shows, Bolivia’s 18,000-year-old Chacaltaya glacier, which once boasted the world’s highest ski resort, melted in 2009 ten years earlier than scientists predicted. Glaciers are an important source of water for nearby cities which already face supply issues. Rapid growth in cities, municipal mismanagement, and glaciers melting because of climate change creates more stress on this developing country's infrastructure.
Last year, the Guardian profiled Bolivia’s Uru Chipaya, a native tribe that lived through the Spanish conquest, but might not survive climate change. While some members of the Uru Chipaya blame the deities for the recent droughts that devastated their population, President Morales is channeling that frustration toward the developed world.
In November, CNN also reported on Bolivia adding that it is elderly women in the rural areas who bear the greatest burden of climate change as men and young women migrate to the cities. UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid writes in a UNFPA 2009 report that "poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by climate change even though they contributed the least to it."
Whether the EU or Bolivia can truly create a new climate diplomacy is to be seen. In the meantime, many indigenous populations in developing countries must find a way to cope with climate change with or without international assistance.
Aysha Ghadiali is a Research Associate at Resources for the Future.
