 Hello Hello, hello, okay Good afternoon. So That's the Hebrew Humphrey Latin American team Good, let's get it started then We are going to talk about climate change in Bolivia I am a Hebrew Humphrey fellow from Bolivia and What we are going to see now it's Reflection about what is going on first at the global level and then we are going to have a look on What's the situation right now in my country which is supposed to be a? Leading country when it comes to climate change Issues so yeah, thanks for being here and let's get it started So we're going to have a look on some background information about Bolivia then we'll See what are the main Causes of climate change of a world Scale then we'll move to see what's the impact of climate change in Pacha mama Which means mother earth, right? Finally we are going to see what are the choices that we face now, so there's Bolivia located I like to say that is located in the heart of South America and then do you know where the Name Bolivia comes from so let's have a quick review on that There was this say if from Romulus comes from then from Bolivar comes Bolivia That was congressman Manuel Martin approved by the Republic in 8025 so Bolivia was supposed to be the favorite daughter of Simone Boliva Who was the liberator of many countries in this? region not only Bolivia But then what happened a few years ago? in 2009 a new national constitution Changed the official country name to plurinational the state of Bolivia in recognition of the multi ethnic nature of the country and the enhanced position of Bolivian indigenous communities in the new national constitution That's very important. This is I would say huge change in a country to recognize the Diversity of their population But let's see what happens after that Bolivia is Has an area of 1.1 million square kilometers as a population of 11 million inhabitants More or less 60 percent living in urban context and 40 percent in rural context The minimum salary the official salary to be paid to a worker is $200 per month We are highly dependent on natural resources exploitation from agriculture forestry fishing mining Petroleum the human development index its position in Bolivia in the place 108 out of 187 countries when it comes to Expect life of expectancy education and per capita income The mortality rate of children under the age of five. It's 50 out of 1,000 most of these Problems are caused and are related with water Problems and Bolivia is a landlocked country. We lost the access to the Pacific Ocean against Chile And right now we are under the international court in Denhac with a lawsuit to try to find some solutions to this actual situation so there you have The diversity that we have in Bolivia from highlands To valleys and then to the lowlands Once you reach the airport in La Paz Bolivia, you are going to be at 4,000 meters above mean sea level for some people That's bring that's going to bring some problems Couple of weeks ago we went with some Humphrey Fellows to the lowest point in USA Which is located in death valley, right? And then we were like 80 meters below mean sea level or something like that So if you go to Bolivia, you are going to experience really differences in Altitude depending on the region you are located Those are some of the national symbols the flag the shield the cantuta flower and This is the flag which represents many indigenous communities from the Andean region the Wepala So let's see. Let's have a look a quick view on what are the Main causes of climate change Worldwide what is climate change? We can see some definitions Refers to change in climate characteristics including temperature humidity rainfall We can find definitions of global warning referring to the overall warning of the planet based on average temperature Which means we are living in a warmer world, right? And then what is causing this situation and we can see that there are some natural climate fluctuations Which humans can't control but are part of the natural system and Examples of these are El Niño and La Niña phenomenons But then we have Anthropogenic drivers of climate change which has to do has to be with the increased greenhouse Gases concentration in the atmosphere. So what is causing this? situation human activities, right, so fossil fuel combustion And the different gases that are released to the atmosphere because of human activities in the world Here we can see a map who are the countries which are contributing more to the greenhouse emission and Yeah, we can say from this graph that the higher the size of this circle The higher the amount of the country contributing to this greenhouse emission but We can see that everybody is contributing somehow to this emission of greenhouses And what are the impacts on? On climate change, we are going to have impacts on ecosystems human systems urban systems economic and social so the impacts are really in different areas by a diversity agriculture transportation lifestyle energy Equity migration today morning. We were talking about The high the very high migration patterns from rural context to urban context Which maybe are caused by these situations rural communities are? Realizing that the climate is changing so they can't do any more longer activities in their realities Let's have a look now what is going on in Bolivia and Bolivia is particularly vulnerable to climate change Due to a combination of factors We've got a high biodiversity and a wide range of ecosystems We have a high percentage of indigenous communities like 36 ethnic groups living along the country More than a half of the country is located in Amazon which are lowlands areas prone to flooding There are extreme weather conditions which led to natural disasters We have a high concentration of tropical glaciers In the anti-planic regions which are suffering now because of climate change if we have a look on this beautiful scenarios ecosystems from The anti-planic regions. This is the Titicaca Lake which is shared between Bolivia and Peru We have in the lowlands in the Amazonic region beautiful biodiversity and Here we can see a map of the national protected areas in Bolivia, so these are areas which are under low protected From national parks national areas a combination of the two National reserves for wild life Here we can see a distribution of the 36 ethnic groups in the Amazonia region in the Chaco region and in the Andean Highlands Near 5,000 inhabitants living under those ethnic groups This is a map of multi-thread assessment Trying to assess flat draft fire erosion and freeze so the darker the color the More and the risk the area to these Threads, so what's the impact of climate change in Bolivia? The impact is reflected in food security Water scarcity natural hazards health problems Forest fires and How it looks like in reality, so let's go back to this map and Here we can see which used to be the second largest Lake in Bolivia the popo Lake and I think you have seen what happened with this Lake recently, so here we can see some images This was satellite image from 2014 In April then this was by July 2015 This is an image of January 2016 so by last year December last year and the beginning of this year We realized that the popo Lake Has disappeared Why and what were the main causes? What are the main causes? For this to happen. So among many reasons climate change is one of the main reasons Here we can see also that there are many mining activities going on in this region and all those mining companies Have to use water for their processes So most of the water that used to recharge naturally this lake Was transferred for these mining activities of these companies Here we can see another assessment of the Contamination caused by these mining companies and you can see that here where this lake was supposed to exist The impact of mining activities was and it's really huge And it looks like this now. So those families who used to have And to make a living out of the resources from this lake right now Really don't have anything else to do this Picture is of the what used to be the highest is king Place in in Bolivia Chakal Taya So during the last 40 years 50% of Bolivia glaciers volume has been lost and the trend is to continue disappearing so Maybe this picture was from The 90s early 90s I Went with my family as part of one holiday like when I was teenager to this place and then after a couple of years is Just it just gone it disappeared because of the melting of these glaciers again caused by the increase of temperature because of climate change So what are the efforts that the Bolivian government is taking with respect to climate change and Under the presidency of Evo Morales the first indigenous president of the country Yeah, Bolivia has taken a leadership role when it comes to the negotiations going on under the climate change global agenda And we took like a leading position in these main meetings in Copenhagen and Cancun and Yeah, it looks like this we are enforcing the policy of be be in or Good living which means like yeah, we all should be able to live With our basic needs Covered and this is the policy that the government is Encouraging from the very beginning when it comes to climate change. It's a kind of new the approach and the agencies that have been created to take a responsibility as part of this Climate change like in 2009 There was created the plurinational council on climate change Together with the ministry of environment and water in 2010 we hosted the first world people's conference on climate change and the defense of life by 2010 it was released by parliament the mother earth low and good living which Made it that Bolivia was the first country that Assigned to the nature the same rights as humans under this law And 2015 we hosted the second world conference on climate change. I was able to participate in this Conference, even though I was here as part of the Humphrey program I went to Bolivia to participate in this conference as part of the NGO. I'm working with there So it seems that we have been taking some Interesting Steps when it comes to defining some laws Which are going to be in favor of the environment and to take some measures about climate change This was the main advertisement of this conference on climate change going on in Cochabamba in my hometown We are supposed to be in favor of Pachamama Mother Earth, right? So this is a one of the many representations of Mother Earth So this image what what comes to your mind when you see this image? What is behind it? What do you see here? harmony abundant peace Earth Right, so what's the essence? Which somehow is represented in the law of Mother Earth that the Bolivian government Released and presented so the essence behind Complementarity of rights obligations and duties so all of us in this system are responsible for this Balance land is not a merchandise harmony solidarity historical responsibility prevention and priority harmonic relationship collective wellness regeneration assurance social and climate justice So all these elements are part of the law of Mother Earth and they were supposed to be Considered somehow in practice, right? however the practice the first From the essence behind and let's see what is going on Right now in Bolivia so here we can see in 1991 The red color represents the land that was Deforested it by 2005 These amounts may be increased by four times So right now the deforestation rate that is going on in Bolivia is at as high as 350,000 hectares per year which means 320 meters per person per year If we compare these with average numbers Bolivia Which you remember the previous slide? Where the bigger the circle the higher the impact of greenhouse? gases emission So it seems that in Bolivia we are at the same rate Because of deforestation so each one's each one of us of individuals are Contributing somehow to climate change because of the actual deforestation rate, which is going on At the same time There are some laws that have been released to somehow protect the use of Transgenic products and here you can see Rural communities that are of course against the use of transgenic products Under food security Assurance these laws are being also released Here we can see a map of a combination of natural protected areas and What is going on when it comes to the exploitation of petroleum and natural gas? activities and here you can see that In 70% of the areas that are natural protected areas there are Legal activities and exploitation of Petroleum and natural gas going on right now and again even though there's a law in order to come up with this Exploitation is still going on there are other laws that are approved to allow these companies to Keep working in these activities This was a very Yeah, a very important Activity that was going on. This is the National Park of Tiffany's Tiffany's this is again one of the most diverse national parks that we have in Bolivia and With a huge biodiversity and ecosystems within it and then the government approved the construction of a huge highway To connect to main cities which would cross this national park Like this so from here Just crossing in the middle of the park and what happened was that many indigenous communities Living in that national park decided to go against that project and At the end of the day there were many Problems and many groups that were involved in this Activities finally were sent to jail It seems and right now the project was stopped Because of the high impact that it produced in the communities living there, but Again, you don't know when and how this is going to come up again and restart With the some intentions to build these huge Projects that are going to cause a huge impact in the environment So finally who is suffering the impact of climate change in most developing countries And this is an experience from Bolivia, but for sure is the same way in many different developing countries and developed countries as well, so These rural communities Are those suffering Both the impact of climate change and at the same time the measures that the governments are taking in response to those Problems Different station looks like this Yeah, it's really Critical the situation so I think and I guess that Mother Earth is suffering as well, right? However, there are reasons for hope and Want to share this picture this was back in October last year when I went to participate in the climate change conference in my hometown and as part of this workshop that we have on Techniques to be used in order to Come up with smart solutions about climate change. There was this Great speaker This lady. I think she was 80 years old and I'm a lady from the Alti planet regions and she was explaining to the audience How the climate is changing from her perception so from the moment she was a little children Till now how weather has changed it, but still she was encouraging us the audience that Yeah, there are reasons for hope and there are ways to work the land and to Come up with solutions at the local level to overcome the impact of the climate and Then She presented this model where you have this piece of land here at the left maybe with no Techniques Implemented and at the right side you can see the same piece of land that With improved techniques for the use of natural resources water Land you can really shift from this situation To this situation and that's something that these communities are still doing right now again Going beyond their difficulties Their lack of resources to improve their situations, but they are still using ancient techniques in order to Work the land and to be somehow in balance with mother earth So what are the choices that we face now? and Here you can see as part of the results from the huge big negotiations going on in Paris and in those Big events at the global level So for sure you we can decide where to be a lot is being said about how much we should be able to To allow the climate to increase whether two degrees Four degrees Three degrees and it seems that the conversation just focus on that indicator Which is not really saying too much. I will say that the change has to be like radical in order to Try to change and try to improve this problem and the decision is in the hands of Global leaders National leaders and of course we can do something as well as individuals in this range of options Here I want you to read What Evo Morales said As part of the mother low right So this was released as you can see los 10 mandamientos para salvar el planeta the 10 Ways to save the planets and humanity This was released at the same time that the mother low earth was passed by parliament in December 2010 Right, and this was the main one of the main ideas behind Bolivia being a leading country Fighting against climate change so more or less. Yeah, yeah right and Then he refers here to the melting of glaciers So yeah again With this presentation I wanted to give you a general idea about what what is going on even though We are supposed to be doing really a good job against climate change in reality. Something else is happening Maybe the measures are not really coherent with the reason behind being a Country which passed by parliament allowed to protect in every way and in every sense environment, right so Yeah, this is like I Finish the presentation and I want to open the floor for questions and comments Before we take questions, I'll pass the clipboard around again and some Evaluations for you to fill out and return to me or a basket up front. Thank you again the Main elements that were highlighted as part of the mother earth low are Yeah, like chapters of this document that you can go through so what has been Realized by many NGOs foundations that are working on climate change and environment issues have recognized that The Speech of the government is going in this way, but in reality what is going on is going in the opposite way, right so allowing the exploitation of Natural resources within natural protected areas is really not coherent the fact that National Park was going to be crossed by a huge high highway in order to connect. Yes, it's important to have The country connected in every possible way But maybe there were some alternatives not to simply cross this natural park and destroy that ecosystems And affect the living conditions of those ethnic communities At the same time giving the possibility to use a pesticides in order to improve food security levels and to Have more farming activities and the level of the forestation that is going on right now. It's really saying that There's really something different between the Logic the essence behind mother earth Low and the practices that the government's and taking Both at the national level and the transfer and the responsibility that the national level is transferring to the local government levels, right so yeah, it's being highlighted the failure of the government to really be Coherent with the law Nations like the United States have to play in either facilitating or helping developing nations With these issues, thanks. I think that's a That's a difficult question because Bolivia decided to stop relationships with USA and then we throw out USA Agency that was working in Bolivia in a huge program to transfer the use of land from coca leaf production to the so-called alternative production program. So in order to Shift from Let's say growing coca leaves produce some fruits or vegetables over So I would say that the international cooperation has a huge role to be played in this Issue of climate change and there are many ways to do so like from basic knowledge Transfer to economical support. It seems that now after parties developed countries are supposed and are Obligated to provide some economical resources at the same time we at the local level should be able to Come out with some solutions and with some measures and with some Investments in the same way. So I would say that yeah, international cooperation has a key role to be played under these scenarios and It seems that that's going to be the trend and specifically Bolivia I would say that somehow Decided not to rely too much on international cooperation we have increased our macroeconomical indicators in the last 10 years and So we are really in a very Important position in the region. Somehow we are leading the economical growth in the last 10 years in the region But it doesn't mean but that we have to stop considering the support of international cooperation because what I show you right now what is Also happening is that to address and to assess climate change We really need a lot more data scientific research That's not happening right now. So international cooperation should be really playing a key role In order to address what is going to be the impact of the melting of the glaciers In 10 years from now in 20 years from now, and what are we going to do really when the situation? becomes even worse Couldn't hear it all but His question was like what can what developing countries do to help undeveloped countries. Well, I would think it's the opposite. What what to your your indigenous populations Remember and can apply to renew their so as part of these conferences going on and The picture I show at the very last part of the presentation the Proposal of indigenous communities was exactly to retake all techniques to work the land to use the natural resources to live in a more harmonic way like Then the question comes what is development about what's the Development model that rural and ethnic groups are going to follow So this is very much being applied now that we are retaking ancient and old techniques in order to Shift from the picture that we showed at the very last part how to use this piece of land in the most sustainable way and Making the best use of the resources that we've got and to do so the retake of these Old techniques is really Proposition of many indigenous groups not on not only from Bolivia. So in these conferences we had the participation of ethnical and indigenous groups from all the region and from all over the world and all of them came up with these potential solutions in order to again Come up with some Combination of ideas and techniques and the results are really there. There are many good experiences and results that we can really Make the best use of the resources that we've got by using basic Techniques and practices. Yeah, and that's happening I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your own work in Bolivia Let's wait for the projector to Turn on I prepared a short presentation for today morning, but because we changed the way to do the session in the morning I thought I wouldn't be able to share this but let's do it now Want to share with you this project and experiences that we have been working on as part of my job in the NGO Working with rural communities trying to Create with them some solutions again to the problems that they are facing as part of The use of natural resources but then So with the With the NGO I've been working with we collaborate a lot with international Development agencies from Europe and from USA so this is Again a project that we've been working for the last eight years in order to improve the living conditions of Rural communities this is in my hometown Cochabamba in the Andean regions So here what we What we can see is that These are old techniques Which we wanted and we tried to retake for these communities so more or less The difference is that the government is providing communities with let's say fashion techniques like introducing machinery and They don't care what is going to happen with this tractor two years from now once they need some spare parts and Things to be fixed so what we tried to do was to retake and to reintroduce these old techniques This was to work the land And in this way we involve the communities we involve different groups ethnic groups and Once they realize and once they see that they can improve their techniques and their activities They are going to really be able to compare whether to take this offer That they've got from other agencies or using machinery or to retake basic techniques that they can apply easily in the ground these are some first where They are going to display their varieties of products that they are going to come up with here This little kid is showing the different varieties of potatoes that they have grown in this community What we tried to do in this specific project was to highlight The fact that with the same effort that they do right now using a seed of Potato and by changing this seed to a certified Seat they can have three or four times the production increased of potato. So we came up with these models That they realized again with the same effort with the same use of resources They can come up with a better production Which is going to make them able to sell some more Products in the market at the same time they have enough products for self consumption The techniques again how to Take advantage of Water resources like you can store water during the rainy season and then you can use that water For irrigation proposed at moments when you don't have water right how to work the land and how to improve the production of these same piece of land How to diversify the diet how to introduce some vegetables in the daily diet that they have We encouraged at the same way the Role of women in these communities. So trying to provide them with some improvements in their daily activities so how they can be part of the let's say economical model of the family when both men women can contribute somehow according with their Possibilities and roles that they play in the community Reforestation activities again. I show you the numbers and in this project. We tried to encourage forestation and The results and the impact was really huge and these communities were very happy that they were able to improve and to recover those erosion lands with some native species of trees use of natural produced fertilizers for the production of the different crops that they have So here they are mixing like garlic Onions and other natural products to come up with some natural pesticides How to introduce again some other Products to their daily diet and here we try to encourage the production of trot in these Regions that are very cold and so are the ideal conditions to produce trot so That's part of the work that I've been involved in the last the last years and Again, it's not it's not easy it's a Situation in which we have to face different challenges again the role of the government how to involve local government agencies to be part of the Solution the development models for rural communities, which are really not clear and that are sending Again rural indigenous young people Who are migrating to urban areas? And sustainability is also again. It's a challenge in every sense from the technical economical social and environmental point of view sustainability is still a huge challenge So yeah, that's part of the work. I've been doing in the last years Proposing One thing like one direction and they take responsibility towards climate change But same time we saw the problem related to this lake What the NGOs do on national on policy level and if there are like NGOs really working in the field of environment and natural resources management in Bolivia, right so you have working in the country like international NGOs you have local or Bolivian NGOs working Which yeah, we are able to come up all together And to do some lobby let's say with the government agencies, but what we have seen is that again the the approach and the Focus is is really different As part of this specific project. I presented you right now these communities and this Local partner that we have in place they have been working there for the last 40 years trying to Bring this approach as a sustainable approach and trying to learn the communities that they can Really improve techniques they can come up with some better incomes for the families And rather than providing them their resources, they are able to get their own income to get more resources and Get into these sustainable model But then the government comes from day to night to provide these communities with lots of seats Maybe some machinery and the communities are going to see okay. This is better because For this model I have to work a lot harder and right now the government is providing me with all the inputs that I need What they realized because this happened five years ago Some communities decided not to keep again Coming to our center to be trained and to get into this model But then they realized that okay the government was here for one day and then they disappeared So again, it's a process of trial and error right Right now again these groups returned to this training center because they realized that We were providing them with technical support on daily basis. We are there all the time to Suggest them and to provide them with some solutions to their daily needs like from farming Potatoes introducing some other crops introducing some cattle management and then What is really happening is that the possibility of NGOs To bring these elements at the global at the national level is really not working because the approach and the Impact that the government wants to have is like in that way providing resources immediately Which is at the end of the day Something that is going to bring these parties. We know these political parties What they want to have at the end of the day are some votes and that's all at that moment What they do is provide like everything for the population, but they are not going to be there in a sustainable Model, so yeah lobby at the national level within NGOs It's not easy At the same time we are trying to do some some work on that Agenda, yeah, okay Thank you. Thank you very much