BOLIVIA: Government says rich nations must pay "climate debt" for damage caused by decades of carbon emissions

Record ID: 259906

  • Title: BOLIVIA: Government says rich nations must pay "climate debt" for damage caused by decades of carbon emissions
  • Date: 28th November 2009
  • Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF BOLIVIA'S ENVIRONMENT VICE MINISTER, JOSE PABLO RAMOS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BOLIVIA'S ENVIRONMENT VICE MINISTER, JOSE PABLO RAMOS, SAYING: "The emissions debt, as well as the adaptation debt constitute what Bolivia considers the climate debt, which is not only a scientific argument heavily backed by information, but al
  • Embargoed: 13th December 2009 12:00
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  • Topics: International Relations,Nature / Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVAAN5SV97C1E6GJKXSZTTSQ4MNT
  • Story Text: Thousands of indigenous families who live at the foot of the Illimani, one of Bolivia's tallest snow-capped peaks, may have to abandon their lands over the next decades.
    Rising global temperatures have been causing the glaciers that provide water for the Khapi village and other neighboring Aymara communities to melt at an alarming rate.
    The speed of the glacier melt has so alarmed Bolivian officials that at December's climate change conference in Copenhagen, they will demand rich nations pay compensation to poorer nations bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.
    Poor countries are the lowest emitters of the greenhouse gases blamed for extreme weather - but they have the most to lose under predicted changes in weather patterns, experts say.
    Here near the Illimani, with their source of food and money at risk, many youths have abandoned their families' traditions to try and make a living elsewhere.
    Javier Cortez has lived his entire life in the Khapi village. This month his community filed a case at the recently established Climate Justice Court in Cochabamba to protest against the changing climate conditions they are facing.
    After years of harvesting, Cortez said new weather patterns were troubling.
    "These hills are our grandparents. They give us food, they give us water to drink. But, because these hills are vanishing, we are very concerned. If there is no water, the crops will die and life will end for us. We will die and we don't know what will become of our children," he said, after harvesting potatoes from his garden.
    Environmentalists say the Illimani glaciers may vanish completely within 30 years.
    According to data released by Bolivia's agriculture ministry, some 8,500 families and 2.6 million livestock currently suffer because of water shortages in the region.
    Cortez believes rich nations are to blame.
    "The developed countries are the ones responsible for the destruction of these mountain ranges. That is what the well-informed people say," he said.
    Although the Andean country has one of the world's lowest carbon emission rates, it nearly tops the list of the nations most affected by climate change.
    A report released by aid group Oxfam this month said Bolivia will be hit hard by glacial retreat, natural disasters, diseases, fires and erratic weather patterns in coming years.
    The study also warned that thousands of La Paz residents who depend on melt waters from the glaciers that account for 15 percent of the capital's supply, may lose access to the resource.
    To adjust to climate changes, the Bolivian government forged a plan which has put guaranteeing water supplies as its number one priority, followed by food security.
    Bolivia's Environment Vice Minister Jose Pablo Ramos said rich countries had stripped developing nations of their right to grow economically.
    "Since the industrial revolution, the developed countries who hold only 20 percent of the global population, have contaminated three-fourths of the atmosphere. In the other hand, the developing countries that have 80 percent of the global population, have only used up one-fourth of the atmosphere. If we take into consideration that this atmospheric system is a limited system and that we would enter a climate catastrophe if we exceed this limit, it is fair to say that they (developed countries) have used up our atmospheric space and our opportunities to develop," he said.
    On the Chacaltaya mountain range, a rusty ski lift is all that is left of what was once the world's highest ski resort.
    Now, only a 50-square meter (538 square feet) snowy ice cap remains of the glacier that spread over some 1,600 square meters in the 1950s.
    Ramos said the industrialized countries have to pay a "climate debt" to compensate for their historic carbon emissions.
    "The emissions debt, as well as the adaptation debt constitute what Bolivia considers the climate debt, which is not only a scientific argument heavily backed by information, but also a strong philosophical argument to recover the essence of what climate change is and the responsibilities each one has," he said.
    Farmer Rogelio Quispe is another concerned Khapi resident. Like Cortez, Quispe said the receding Illimani glaciers were affecting his crops.
    He said considerable rainfall during the dry periods and abrupt temperature changes had become increasingly common.
    "The weather is changing. When we water the plants it evaporates quickly. It is very hot. The water cannot bear (the heat) and the production is not good. Before our output was much bigger," he said, showing his potato plantation.
    As world leaders prepare to discuss solutions to fight climate change in the Danish capital next month, pressure has grown on industrialized nations to create a fund to help the less developed countries deal with environmental issues.
    Ramos said rich countries should also pay through free transfer of technology.
    "We need free access technology, an important transfer in all areas that are connected to the adaptation to climate change and the transfer of financial resources. These are the elements that we must discuss in the negotiations (climate summit) and that pay for the climate debt," he said.
    The European Union says the cost to help developing nations fight global warming is about $100 billion annually. But developing countries say rich countries should pay between 0.5 percent and 1 percent of their gross domestic product.
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