On Mother Earth Day, April 22, vice-president David Choquehuanca Céspedes of Bolivia invites to a conference with the aim to reestablish our connection with Mother Earth, ”a process that we must all undertake from our communities, societies, authorities and the international community.”
We have begun to think that we are the superior beings, at the top of the hierarchy, so we think that everything is just resources for us: living beings, stones, minerals, all for us humans. An egocentrism which can only lead to a bad path. … We have the absolute conviction when we summon this event to give hope, and that hope is in the meeting with our Mother, with Pachamama, says David Choquehuanca Céspedes.
To begin this process, the conference invites to participation in the construction of norms and strategies to protect our Mother Earth through:
- A Law to establish the Mother Earth Defender
- A Law against Ecocide and to Protect Mother Earth
- The call to an Earth Assembly at the UN
- An Action Plan
Dokumentation from Reencuentro con la Pachamama on Facebook
The change in norms for protection of Nature following the escalation of the ecological crisis has meant a major upsurge in activities on April 22. Bolivia’s celebration of the day stands out by presenting concrete proposals for institutional support to protect Nature, in the form of an ombudsman (Defensoría de Madre Tierra) and a law against ecocide.
Bolivia, a plurinational state with powerful indigenous peoples, has taken the lead for an Earth jurisprudence for a long time, especially in the international arena. In 2009, the country took the initiative for the UN to proclaim the international Mother Earth Day on April 22 and to create the UN program Harmony with Nature. In 2010, the country’s President Evo Morales invited the world to the World People’s Conference on Climate Change, where a draft Declaration of the rights of Mother Earth was adopted, later presented to the UN General Assembly.
Sign and share the Declaration for the Rights of Mother Earth
