Bolivia: Bolivia Environment Profile 2011

Environmental concerns receive relatively little attention in economic planning at the macro and micro levels, lack an effective institutional framework and have usually been subordinated to the goals of growth and (since 2006) redistribution. However, efforts to build environmental awareness have been going on for some time, and the movements involved (among them a number of indigenous organizations in the eastern lowlands and in the coca production zones), despite their weakness, have continuously voiced their concerns. Internationally subsidized diversification of smaller commercial agriculture (aside from the agroindustry in the sugar and soy sectors, and the exploitation of tropical timber) has contributed to the creation of an export-oriented segment of organically cultivated tropical fruits, coffee, and other crops. The new constitution has set very high standards for an ecologically conscious and well-protected future. However, present-day politics are another matter, as the many violent conflicts of recent years have shown. For example, the government policy of settling landless indigenous colonos from the highlands in the eastern lowlands has not only often violated the established privileges and (mostly collective) land titles of the lowland indígenas, but has also made substantial incursions into protected territories, reservations and national parks, parts of which were savagely cleared and cut down (such as areas of the Madidi National Park).