United Nations Millennium Development Goals:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
The children who have no clean water to drink, the women who fear for their safety, the young people who have no chance to receive a decent education have a right to better, and we have a responsibility to do better. All people have the right to safe drinking water, sanitation, shelter and basic services. - Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General
Officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia due to its various ethnicities, it is one of the landlocked countries of South America located in the Andean mountain region. It is bordered by Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Peru, and Chile. It has two capitals: the seat of government is in La Paz, and the constitutional is in Sucre. In 1827, it declared independence from Spain on the 6th of August 1827, its National Day. It is named after military leader Simon Bolivar, an influential politician who led the independence struggle in order to become a democracy.
In the XV century, Bolivia was mainly the territory of the Incan Empire, before the colonization of the Spanish in the XVI century. It became an important source of income for the Kingdom of Spain, being a center for mining of minerals, especially silver. Today, the Bolivian economy is founded on petroleum, zinc, and precious metals. It has the second largest natural gas reserves in South America after Venezuela. The country exports most of its gas to Argentina and Brazil. Bolivia is a developing country, with over half (53 %) of the population living under the poverty line. It is heavily dependent on foreign aid, owing over 1 billion USD to creditors. Its national currency is the boliviano. |
The current Bolivian president is Evo Morales, a democratic socialist who has declared his intent to nationalize industries. During the 2000 Cochabamba protests due to water privatization, he was expelled from Congress, accused of the deaths of two policemen due to his language. However, today his political party now holds the majority in both houses of Congress.
Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, and continues to have water problems. Deforestation has become a big problem due to the consequences of erosion and declining water quality. Landowners, for every initiative they take to improve the quality of the environment, are compensated in US dollars. Bolivia perseveres its maritime claim on Chile, insisting that Chile return territory they had taken before in order for Bolivia to have access to the Pacific. In this website, our team will explore the topics of water access in Bolivia in social and climate terms, then we will look at it from the economic perspective, and finally discuss the issue of water privatization and end with a conclusion. |