Ecocide in the Amazon: Navigating the Contested Politics of Environmental Rights in Bolivia

Calzadilla Fladvad; Feria Andreucci

doi:10.69725/plice.v1i1.121

Authors

Calzadilla Fladvad Public Policy Center, Department of Political and Social Science, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spanyol
Feria Andreucci Department Studies/Political and Economic Law Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland, Latin American

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69725/plice.v1i1.121

Keywords:

Ecocide, Indigenous Rights, Environmental Justice, Legal Frameworks

Abstract

This study investigates the intersection of ecocide and Indigenous rights in the Bolivian Amazon, examining the contested politics surrounding environmental protection. Utilizing qualitative interviews and analysis of legal frameworks, the research highlights the existential threats faced by Indigenous communities due to environmental degradation and the inadequacies of Bolivia's legal system in safeguarding their rights. Findings reveal a significant gap between legislative recognition of Indigenous rights and their practical enforcement, exacerbated by systemic discrimination and economic interests aligned with extractive industries. The study emphasizes the critical role of Indigenous advocacy in navigating these challenges and underscores the necessity for reforming Bolivia's legal frameworks to align with international human rights standards. By illuminating the complexities of stakeholder dynamics, the research contributes to the broader discourse on environmental justice and Indigenous rights, offering valuable insights for policymakers and activists. The study calls for enhanced collaboration among Indigenous groups, civil society, and government entities to ensure sustainable environmental practices and protect the rights of Indigenous peoples in Bolivia

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Calzadilla Fladvad, Public Policy Center, Department of Political and Social Science, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spanyol

Calzadilla Fladvad P.hD

Public Policy Center, Department of Political and Social Science, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spanyol
Feria Andreucci, Department Studies/Political and Economic Law Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland, Latin American

Feria Andreucci P.hD

Department Studies/Political and Economic Law Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland, Latin American

References

Ampaw, Enock Mintah, Junwu Chai, Yuguo Jiang, Adjei Peter Darko, and Kwame Simpe Ofori. 2024. “Rethinking Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana: A Holy Grail for Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability.” Journal of Cleaner Production 437:140683. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.140683. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.140683

Beitz. 2013. “Human Dignity in the Theory of Human Rights: Nothing But a Phrase?” Philosophy & Public Affairs 41(3):259–90. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.12017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.12017

van den Boogaard, Emma. 2024. “Environmental Intervention: An Activist Idea or a Legal Tool? An Analysis of the Possibilities of Environmental Protection in Light of the Principle of Non-Intervention.” Netherlands International Law Review 71(2):353–81. doi: 10.1007/s40802-024-00263-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40802-024-00263-7

Bousfield, Christopher G., Gianluca R. Cerullo, Mike R. Massam, and David P. Edwards. 2020. “Chapter One - Protecting Environmental and Socio-Economic Values of Selectively Logged Tropical Forests in the Anthropocene.” Pp. 1–52 in Tropical Ecosystems in the 21st Century. Vol. 62, edited by A. J. Dumbrell, E. C. Turner, and T. M. B. T.-A. in E. R. Fayle. Academic Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aecr.2020.01.006

Buttel, F. H. 2000. “Ecological Modernization as Social Theory.” Geoforum 31(1):57–65. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7185(99)00044-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7185(99)00044-5

Caballero, Francisco Sierra, and Tommaso Gravante. 2018. “Digital Media Practices and Social Movements. A Theoretical Framework from Latin America BT - Networks, Movements and Technopolitics in Latin America: Critical Analysis and Current Challenges.” Pp. 17–41 in, edited by F. S. Caballero and T. Gravante. Cham: Springer International Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65560-4_2

Cameron, Emilie S. 2012. “Securing Indigenous Politics: A Critique of the Vulnerability and Adaptation Approach to the Human Dimensions of Climate Change in the Canadian Arctic.” Global Environmental Change 22(1):103–14. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.11.004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.11.004

Connelly, Stephen, and Tim Richardson. 2005. “Value-Driven SEA: Time for an Environmental Justice Perspective?” Environmental Impact Assessment Review 25(4):391–409. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2004.09.002. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2004.09.002

Crook, Martin, and Damien Short. 2021. “Developmentalism and the Genocide–Ecocide Nexus.” Journal of Genocide Research 23(2):162–88. doi: 10.1080/14623528.2020.1853914. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2020.1853914

Cusack, Daniela F., Jason Karpman, Daniel Ashdown, Qian Cao, Mark Ciochina, Sarah Halterman, Scott Lydon, and Avishesh Neupane. 2016. “Global Change Effects on Humid Tropical Forests: Evidence for Biogeochemical and Biodiversity Shifts at an Ecosystem Scale.” Reviews of Geophysics 54(3):523–610. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/2015RG000510. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/2015RG000510

Farthing, Linda. 2009. “Bolivia’s Dilemma: Development Confronts the Legacy of Extraction.” NACLA Report on the Americas 42(5):25–29. doi: 10.1080/10714839.2009.11725466. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10714839.2009.11725466

Gordon (she/her), Constance, Emerson Cram (they/them), and Tiara R. Na’puti (she/her). n.d. “Powermapping ‘Stop Cop City’: Abolition Ecology for Possibilities beyond Enclosure.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 1–27. doi: 10.1080/00335630.2024.2397099. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2024.2397099

Habersang, Anja. n.d. “Tackling Terricide, Not (Only) Ecocide: Further Exploring the Nexus between Social-Ecological Destruction.” Globalizations 1–19. doi: 10.1080/14747731.2024.2400002. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2024.2400002

Johansen, Bruce E. 2022. “Brazil and Australia: Indigenous Peoples and the Fires This Time BT - Get Your Knee Off Our Necks: From Slavery to Black Lives Matter.” Pp. 275–311 in, edited by B. E. Johansen and A. Akande. Cham: Springer International Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85155-2_9

Merino, Roger. 2018. “Re-Politicizing Participation or Reframing Environmental Governance? Beyond Indigenous’ Prior Consultation and Citizen Participation.” World Development 111:75–83. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.06.025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.06.025

Merryfield, Merry M. 2000. “Why Aren’t Teachers Being Prepared to Teach for Diversity, Equity, and Global Interconnectedness? A Study of Lived Experiences in the Making of Multicultural and Global Educators.” Teaching and Teacher Education 16(4):429–43. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00004-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00004-4

Nygren, Anja, Markus Kröger, and Barry Gills. 2022. “Global Extractivisms and Transformative Alternatives.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 49(4):734–59. doi: 10.1080/03066150.2022.2069495. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2022.2069495

Orlove, Benjamin S. 1980. “Ecological Anthropology.” Annual Review of Anthropology 9:235–73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.09.100180.001315

Pasgaard, M. 2013. “The Challenge of Assessing Social Dimensions of Avoided Deforestation: Examples from Cambodia.” Environmental Impact Assessment Review 38:64–72. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2012.06.002. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2012.06.002

Raftopoulos, Malayna, and Joanna Morley. 2020. “Ecocide in the Amazon: The Contested Politics of Environmental Rights in Brazil.” The International Journal of Human Rights 24(10):1616–41. doi: 10.1080/13642987.2020.1746648. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2020.1746648

Rist, Stephan, Mani Chidambaranathan, Cesar Escobar, Urs Wiesmann, and Anne Zimmermann. 2007. “Moving from Sustainable Management to Sustainable Governance of Natural Resources: The Role of Social Learning Processes in Rural India, Bolivia and Mali.” Journal of Rural Studies 23(1):23–37. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2006.02.006. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2006.02.006

Ryan, Connor. 2013. “Regimes of Waste: Aesthetics, Politics, and Waste from Kofi Awoonor and Ayi Kwei Armah to Chimamanda Adichie and Zeze Gamboa.” Research in African Literatures 44(4):51–68. doi: 10.2979/reseafrilite.44.4.51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/reseafrilite.44.4.51

Scheltema, Martijn. 2021. “Access to Remedy in Transnational Development Projects: The Need for Effective and Comprehensive Remedy Ecosystems.” International Journal of Law in Context 17(1):136–44. doi: DOI: 10.1017/S1744552321000082. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744552321000082

Schilling, Janpeter, Almut Schilling-Vacaflor, Riccarda Flemmer, and Rebecca Froese. 2021. “A Political Ecology Perspective on Resource Extraction and Human Security in Kenya, Bolivia and Peru.” The Extractive Industries and Society 8(4):100826. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.10.009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.10.009

Schleicher, Judith. 2018. “The Environmental and Social Impacts of Protected Areas and Conservation Concessions in South America.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 32:1–8. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.01.001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.01.001

Schwab De La O, Lorena, and Peris Jones. 2024. “Contested Visions of Sustainable Development in Conflicts over Renewable Energy, Land, and Human Rights: A Case Study of Unión Hidalgo, Mexico.” Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 42(1):35–70. doi: 10.1177/09240519231223655. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09240519231223655

Souza, Luiz Enrique Vieira de, Marcelo Fetz, Bruna Pastro Zagatto, and Nataly Sousa Pinho. 2022. “Violence and Illegal Deforestation: The Crimes of ‘Environmental Militias’ in the Amazon Forest.” Capitalism Nature Socialism 33(2):5–25. doi: 10.1080/10455752.2021.1980817. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2021.1980817

Spiegel, Samuel J. 2012. “Governance Institutions, Resource Rights Regimes, and the Informal Mining Sector: Regulatory Complexities in Indonesia.” World Development 40(1):189–205. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.05.015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.05.015

Spiegel, Samuel J. 2021. “Fossil Fuel Violence and Visual Practices on Indigenous Land: Watching, Witnessing and Resisting Settler-Colonial Injustices.” Energy Research & Social Science 79:102189. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102189. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102189

Stonich, Susan C. 1998. “Political Ecology of Tourism.” Annals of Tourism Research 25(1):25–54. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(97)00037-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(97)00037-6

Whyte, Kyle, Chris Caldwell, and Marie Schaefer. 2023. “Sustainability.” Pp. 149–79 in Approaches to Environmental Justice and Social Power, edited by J. Sze. New York University Press.

Zimmerer, Karl S. 2011. “‘Conservation Booms’ with Agricultural Growth?: Sustainability and Shifting Environmental Governance in Latin America, 1985–2008 (Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia).” Latin American Research Review 46(S1):82–114. doi: DOI: 10.1353/lar.2011.0033. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/lar.2011.0033

Zimmerer, Karl S. 2015. “Environmental Governance through ‘Speaking Like an Indigenous State’ and Respatializing Resources: Ethical Livelihood Concepts in Bolivia as Versatility or Verisimilitude?” Geoforum 64:314–24. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.07.004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.07.004

Zurba, Melanie, and Anastasia Papadopoulos. 2023. “Indigenous Participation and the Incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge and Perspectives in Global Environmental Governance Forums: A Systematic Review.” Environmental Management 72(1):84–99. doi: 10.1007/s00267-021-01566-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01566-8