Bolivia Ministries form committees to address indigenous needs

According to Pressenza, on the 25th of January five Bolivian ministries were implemented to address Education, Health, Justice, Rural Development, and Culture issues and meet the demands of indigenous communities. You can read more in Spanish here and English here. 

Dos mujeres y una misión contra la deforestación en Bolivia

Ruth Alipaz y Paola Gareca viven in Bolivia. Abogan por detener los prajectos. abogan por detener los proyectos que explotan los recursos y dañan a las poblaciones indígenas. Lea más sobre estas mujeres inspiradoras, aquí.

“We will fight every battle” – two women, one mission against deforestation
Ruth Alipaz and Paola Gareca live in Bolivia. They advocate stopping projects that exploit resources and hurt indigenous communities. Read more about the two women, here.

Bolivia’s Dream of a Lithium Future Plays Out on High-altitude Salt Flats

According to The Guardian, the Bolivian government is moving forward with foreign deals to mine lithium. Although there are promising economic promises, citizens worry about how economic gains will be distributed and the effect on the environment. Read more here. 

Bolivian senator, Indigenous representatives attacked by illegal miners

Disturbing news from Mining.com: “Bolivian senator Cecilia Requena, members of the Senate’s Land and Territory Committee and representatives from Amazonian Indigenous organizations were attacked over the weekend when conducting an inspection in an area near the Madidi National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area…Following reports of illegal mining operations taking place in the area, the group led by Requena went there on April 1, 2022. However, as they were approaching the Chushuara community, they were repelled by alleged illegal miners with stones, firecrackers and dynamite.”

The “group was able to verify the presence of a massive dredger called La Reina operating 500 metres from the natural reserve. The dredger’s licence plate CP1-1RR-883/2021 seems to indicate that it is originally from Colombia. Both Senator Requena and ​​Contiocap filed a complaint at the national park offices and the nearest port captaincy.” You can read more here.

AJAM and SERNAP facilitate the entry of gold mining in three protected areas of La Paz

According to the Spanish-language Eju!, the Bolivian government has been facilitating mining access in 3 protected areas in La Paz: “Madidi, Apolobamba and Cotapata. Documents accessed by the digital media La Nube show that the Mining Administrative Jurisdictional Authority (AJAM) and the National Protected Areas Service (Sernap) agreed to "continue" the procedures and "use the necessary means" so that the cooperative members with " preconstituted rights” legalize the extraction of gold in these sites.”

“On September 13, 2021, the director of AJAM, Brenda Lafuente, and the director of Sernap, Teodoro Mamani, signed a meeting minutes together with mining leaders to make possible 93 procedures for mining areas in said protected areas: 12 in Madidi , 68 in Apolobamba and 13 in Cotapata.”

“The AJAM will proceed with the 76 adaptation requests framed in national protected areas based on the certificates of compatibility of use (CCU) that will be issued by the Sernap (…). The AJAM and the Sernap, regarding the 17 adaptation requests that correspond to the National Park, will resort to the necessary means to issue the respective CCUs for the purpose of their adaptation with the signing of the mining administrative contract”, says one of the conclusions of the minutes. of said meeting.”

“Obtaining a CCU is an important step to obtain the environmental license and subsequent final authorization for mining activity in a protected area.”

“The 93 procedures indicated above would correspond to "preconstituted mining rights", that is, acquired before the Mining Law 535, of 2014; although this may vary.”

Mercury in the blood: the price of gold for the indigenous peoples of the Amazon

On March 29, 2022, Latin American summary shared concerns about the negative impact of gold mining on the health of indigeneous communities in the Bolivian Amazon: “Dozens of indigenous families living on the banks of the Beni River have up to 27 times more mercury in their blood than is recommended, which causes multiple diseases. The communities ask for the intervention of the Government to avoid the loss of lives and ecosystems.”

“More than 60 social organizations and local civil society demanded that the Government of Luis Arce  regularize this mining activity , which threatens the livelihoods of several native Amazonian peoples.

In their  statement  they highlighted that for several years, and with increasing intensity, "gold cooperatives, allied to ambitious private and foreign interests, have been exploiting gold in the region, an activity that includes clearing, the threatening presence of foreigners, with some local collaborators, to exploit the metal with dredges and use of mercury”, which pollutes rivers, air and land, with risks to human health and other species.

Recently, a study by the University of Cartagena, Colombia, determined that "the  concentrations of mercury  in the organisms of the indigenous people of the Amazon basin of the Beni River, in Bolivia, are  between seven and up to 27 times higher than what is tolerated  by the organism . human", reads the organization's document. Fish is at the top of the food pyramid for indigenous families. When eating contaminated meat, in several community members "they detected memory loss, tremor in the hands and sensory problems, especially in those people with high mercury contamination."

According to Alex Villca Limaco, “Law 535, on Mining, "prohibits the alliance of cooperatives mining companies with private companies, whether national or transnational. However, that is happening, at the same time cooperatives have become more widespread.

Instead, they pay 2.5% royalties to the state for the minerals they sell. “We see that the environmental liabilities cannot be compensated with the derisory benefits that the mining activity leaves behind,” said Villca, who is a spokesperson for the Commonwealth of Indigenous Communities of the Beni, Tuichi and Quiquibey rivers. Mining  in Amazonian rivers  “does not compensate at all for the irreversible damage that this activity causes by contaminating our livelihoods,” he commented.

And he added: "Many populations do not have access to drinking water, so they are forced to use the poisoned waters of rivers, streams and lakes."Villca showed that more studies are required to find out the level of contamination in the Beni basin, given the  suspicion that there are other heavy metals , apart from mercury. In addition, "areas that were used for other economic alternatives, such as banana production cassava, or citrus, have been totally destroyed by the machinery used by the mining cooperatives,” he denounced.”

The decline in tourism due to the pandemic has had a negative impact on local ecotourism efforts, and some indigeneous community members are choosing to work for the mining companies.

According to Alex Villca - “In our country, at least 85% of mining activity, especially cooperative mining,  does not comply with the procedures or regulations in force  in our country." And he assured that "if the Bolivian State enforced national and international regulations, much part of the mining actors would stop exploiting gold, because they are not framed in our current regulations…(this) is not an issue that affects indigenous peoples, but the entire country. For this reason, the Plurinational State is the second largest importer of  mercury  in the world, with  220,000 tons per year . This situation prompted two United Nations special rapporteurs to send a letter to President Arce to receive more information on the matter.”

The Bolivian government’s plans to build megadams in this area has compounded these problems. According to Alex Villca - “We are under strong pressure from the naval military, who require us to register our small-small canoes. They demand a payment of cabotage or sailing right. For us it is something illogical, that violates our rights , because the peoples of this region have always made use of our rivers," said Villca. rights of indigenous peoples and the rights of nature," he added.”

Fecoman communicates that SERNAP will allow mining activities in Madidi

On March 21, Los Tiempos shared that “The Federation of Gold Mining Cooperatives of the North of La Paz (Fecoman) informed its members that the National Protected Areas Service will deliver documents for mining activities in protected areas such as Apolobamba, Cotapata and Madidi. "The Sernap mentions that the legal representative of each cooperative come to pick up their legalized copy of the Certificate of Compatibility of Use (CCU) to continue with the process of obtaining the environmental license," says the statement issued on March 15 and spread on social networks.”

The control of burning and mining, environmental challenges in Bolivia

This Spanish-language article in Pagina Siete discusses several environmental challenges facing Bolivia in 2022. A concrete plan is still needed to “control the burning and prevent forest fires from continuing to add burned territory to the almost 14 million hectares lost in three years.” The Chiquitania, Amazon and Madidi Park “were victims of enslavement, forest fires, mining exploitation, agricultural expansion and droughts.” “Scientists and indigenous and environmental organizations“ are worried about “legal and illegal mining in rivers, as well as the construction of large hydroelectric plants.” “The controversial Chepete-El Bala” project still does “not have a clear environmental impact study.”

According to the article, ““Bolivia: energetic heart of South America” is the slogan of the Bolivian Government. To achieve this goal, there are four high-impact hydroelectric projects, which together are expected to produce around 10,000 MW of energy, almost all of it for export. These projects are Cachuela Esperanza, at the mouth of the Beni River; Chepete and El Bala, which is at the gates of the Madidi protected area; Rositas, which involves seven dams on the Rio Grande in Santa Cruz; and the Binational, which is on the Amazon river Madera, in Pando. They all have environmental files, but to date there is no information on the conclusion of the Environmental Impact Assessment Studies (EEIA). No project received prior consultation, nor does it have an environmental license, and only Rositas has committed Chinese financing.”

“El Chepete and El Bala, as well as Cachuela Esperanza, do not have final design studies or financing, and in the case of the Binacional hydroelectric plant, an inventory study of the Madera River is still pending by the company Worley Parsons Engenharia Ltda.

“Pretending to advance in the construction of mega-hydroelectric plants to export electricity is a nightmare due to its environmental and social impacts, its high costs and the indebtedness that it would cause without having a guaranteed market. It is essential to make the information about these mega projects transparent in order to promote a national debate,” said Pablo Solón, director of the Solón Foundation.”

“The management and care of protected areas in Bolivia is one of the challenges for this 2022, taking into account that they are affected by illegal mining, drug trafficking and subjugation, as explained by Óscar Campanini, director of Cedib.

"There are requests from mining cooperatives for certain protected areas to be rezoned and there are also extremes that go so far as to request that protected areas be eliminated, not only by miners, but also by other sectors," said Campanini. He gave as an example the situation of the Madidi Park, where the rivers are contaminated with mercury due to the "uncontrolled" exploitation of gold.

“The project that most worries us is the gold mining in the Madre de Dios River. . This plan will require an investment of 500 million dollars and will be in charge of the state Mining Corporation of Bolivia (Comibol).”

Women in the Amazon are contaminated by mercury from mining

A recent study’s findings show widespread mercury contamination of women of reproductive age (18-44 years) along the Amazon due to mining. For 58.8% of the women, mercury levels were above the limit of 1 ppm (part per million) established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for negative effects on fetuses. “The study – published in June 2021 by the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) and Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI), with the support of the Instituto de Pesquisa e Formação Indígena (Iepé), which released the research in Brazil in December last year – collected hair samples from 34 Brazilian women and from another 129 in Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia.”

“Bolivian women had the most worrying levels of contamination, with 7.58 ppm. They are indigenous people who are part of the Eyiyo Quibo and Portachuelo peoples and do not have contact with mining or benefit from the exploitation of gold, but feed on fish from the Beni River. The report that resulted from the study describes that the area suffers from pollution of fauna and water resources, due to the operation of dredgers – large machinery used for dredging gold – itinerant in the region.”