A Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) meeting was planned in La Paz, Bolivia on November 10, for ALBA’s Latin American nation members to advocate for a common position on the defence of the rights of Mother Earth.
ALBA is an anti-imperialist bloc of eight nations led by Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia.
Bolivian environment minister Maria Esther Udaeta said the meeting would discuss the position of ALBA nations at the next United Nations climate summit at Cancun in December.
She said the meeting would aim to create the ALBA Ministerial Committee on the Defense of Nature and will develop an agenda that includes joint actions to intensify environmental management projects.
The environment ministers of Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela will draft the constitution of the new committee.
The Bolivian proposal for the committee calls for the recognition of the existence of common resources (water, biodiversity and knowledge, among others) and basic services, which should be respected and managed in an equitable manner that benefits society.
Many of the proposals that will be assessed are a response to the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which was held in Cochabamba in April.
Cochabamba conference participants agreed on the need to create a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth, and rejected the “Copenhagen Accord” that came out of the last United Nations climate summit.
They also expressed support for stabilising the global temperature increase to just 1°C above pre-industrial levels, and for creating an International Climate and Environmental Justice Tribunal.
They also demanded that rich countries dedicate 6% of gross domestic product to a fund for responding to climate change, and advocated holding a world referendum on climate change.
[Abridged from AVN.info.ve. English translation by MotherEarthRights.org.]