Bolivia is about to pass a law that will grant nature equal rights to human beings. La Ley de Derechos de la Madre Tierra (The Law of Mother Earth) establishes a new range of rights for nature: the right to life; the right to water and clean air; the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities and the right to be free of pollution.
“It makes world history. Earth is the mother of all”, Vice-President Alvaro García Linera told the Guardian. “It establishes a new relationship between man and nature, the harmony of which must be preserved as a guarantee of its regeneration.”
The law declares that Mother Earth, Pachamama, is, “sacred, fertile and the source of life that feeds and cares for all living beings in her womb. She is in permanent balance, harmony and communication with the cosmos. She is comprised of all ecosystems and living beings, and their self-organization.”
The concept of “Pachamama” is playing an increasingly bigger role in Bolivian policy. The country’s Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca has been quoted saying that western development has created a “deathly wound to our Pachamama”. President Evo Morales is said to be planning a ministry of Mother Earth and the Bolivian belief is that industrial entities can learn from the traditions of indigenous Andean peoples.
Bolivia borders and includes parts of Amazon, one of the 28 Official Finalists in the New7Wonders of nature. The vast rainforest is also shared by Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.