The Rights of Mother Earth, a declaration formed  in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2010, is now one of the most highly recognized environmental protection docments all over the world.  With everyone being unsatisfied with the way that humans are treating Mother Earth they decided that it was time for something new to take over. More than 32,000 people attended a World People’s Conference on Climate Change, gathering in Bolivia, this event was a response to Bolivia President Evo Morales Ayma’s “call for action.” President Morales is a local coca farmer who it licensed with sending his farm products over to the U.S. to be used. He is a member of the Aymara indigenous group, and the first Bolivian Indian president, who strongly believes that Mother Earth should be better respected, because if we continue to treat her this way we will not be here for much longer.

Environmental activists from around the world that attended saw the need to fundamentally restructure human relationships with nature, and wanted to help the Bolivian President build a movement for the people that helped our Earth, known as The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. The declaration proposes that the earth is a living being, and it states that we should all treat it as one, it also challenges the power of our species over other forms of life. The Rights of Mother Nature proclaims the she is the source of life and has ‘the right to be free from contamination, pollution, and toxic or radioactive waste.’ It also gives mother earth the “right of regeneration for the planet’s biocapacity and the right to live in harmony and balance with all other living creatures on the Earth;” and this declaration also states that Mother Earth doesn’t belong to us, we belong to her.  It provides a strong legal basis against environmentally damaging activities,such as the dumping of oil in to Ecuador’s Amazon by the Chevron company, and it protects the forests, rights of animals, and rivers.

It also has assisted in the creation of Earth Day on Apirl 22nd, put in place by the UN, this is a day to pay tribute to Mother Earth and reflect on how we can improve our planet. This declaration has boosted a global movement wanting justice and improvement for our Mother Earth.  We all rely on the earth for every single aspect of living, so if we destroy our Pachamama, Mother Earth, then we are destroying ourselves.

In the 19th century, the Creoles were quickly expanding to other regions of South America. While they were expanding they were the ones who started much of the deforestation that the declaration protects today. The Creoles also were exploring the land and finding that much of it was useful for thier marketing purposes, such as mining and hunting.  This century of people were the ones that most greatly affected the Earth’s purpose, they took the Indigenous way of looking on the Earth, as being a respectful being, and changed it into a selful way of just wanting and never giving anything back. These Creole’s started the disrespect towards Mother Earth, and now, present day, we are trying to stop it and change the Earth into a clean and healthy place for everyone.

The Rights of Mother Earth, however, was not an isolated at for the Bolivian President, Evo Morales. He is also linked with previous ecological movements such as the Water War (2000) and the Gas Wars (2003 and 2005). In 2000 SEMAPA, Cochabamba’s municipal water company, was sold to a transnational consortium controlled by United States based Bechtel. This was in exchange for debt relief for the Bolivian government and new World Bank loans to help Bolivia expand it’s water system. After SEMAPA was sold its customers experienced a 50% increase in water rates, but at the same time they were experiencing a huge decrease in water supply. In outrage, Evo Morales lead a group in civic strikes. Eventually, Bechtel was forced to abrogate its contract, return SEMAPA to public control, and withdraw its legal claim against the Bolivian government.

Then in 2003 and again in 2005, the Gas War came along. With the country being rich in resources such as gas, everyone in the country was so poor, which isn’t right. Over 58% of all revenues on gas products were being taken by other countries, leaving Bolivia with little money. When Evo Morales came into office he ordered that all other countries that are involved in the Bolivian gas industry were to sign new contracts, and by doing this Morales sent Bolivias gas revenues skyrocketing from 58% to 82%. These two wars, solved by Evo Morales, were just the start of the great impact he was going to have on Bolivia. These are also two points stated in the Rights of Mother Earth, to protect great natural resources such as Bolivias water and hydrocarbons.