Bolivia: Key Environmental Issues

The Catt-Trax2 Team — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 14:52:44 -0800

Report prepared by Krystal Brennan and Jen Sarchuk, students in BCIT’s Fish, Wildlife and Recreation Program

Bolivia is dealing with five major environmental issues: deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, decrease in biodiversity, and industrial pollution of drinking water. The UN has begun delivering improved drinking water for the past two decades, though ninety-five percent of urban people have access to it compared to only fifty-six percent of rural communities.

The Bolivian government has signed the international treaties dealing with:

Biodiversity
Climate Change
Desertification
Endangered Species
Hazardous wastes
Laws of the Sea
Marine dumping
Ship Pollution
Tropical Timber 83
Tropical Timber 94
Wetlands
Environmental Modification
Marine Life Conservation
Ozone Layer Protection

One current project, the Bolivia-Brazil Gas Pipeline, is currently under construction and poses many environmental threats. It will connect the Santa Cruz gas fields in Bolivia to Porto Alegre gas fields in Brazil, stretching 3,000 km. The pipeline will go through many sensitive ecosystems including Chaco, Pantanal wetlands, and some threatened forests in Brazil. The construction of this pipeline will require extensive logging and will create access roads, and environmental waste in these fragile ecosystems. The construction has ruined the water quality in nearby small towns, thereby decreasing the local food supply. The influx of workers in these poor communities makes matters worse. There are many environmental laws in Bolivia to mediate these issues, however, they are not being enforced.

Catt-Trax 2 - Bolivia: Key Environmental Issues - Comments

Bolivia: Key Environmental Issues

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