The Law of Mother Earth: Behind Bolivia’s Historic Bill

Click here to access article by Nick Buxton from Yes! Magazine. 

...the law requires the government 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. 

The author claims that the law has the support of the majority MAS legislators and is likely to pass. Meanwhile the party's chief, President Evo Morales has thus far largely ignored the indigenous movements that put him into power, and has continued with business as usual with the mining interests

Raul Prada, one of the advisors to Pacto de Unidad, explained that the Mother Earth law was developed by Bolivia's largest social movements in response to their perceived exclusion from policy-making by the MAS government, led by indigenous President Evo Morales.

It will be most fascinating to see how all this will play out in Bolivian politics.