News stories by Franz Chávez, page 3

The explosive charges utilised in fossil fuel exploration in Bolivia's Chaco region divert underground water flows, scare off wildlife and harm the environment, charge the leaders of local indigenous Guaraní communities, which have been blocking access routes to keep oil company employees from entering the area.

The Bolivian government negotiated with native groups to head off major marches and roadblocks aimed at demanding protection of indigenous land rights and conservation of the environment in their territories.

The indigenous peoples of the Amazon region of Bolivia have declared themselves in a 'state of emergency' and announced that on May 20 they will begin a 1,000-kilometre march to La Paz to demand that the government defend their territory from being plundered by oil, logging and mining companies.

Strikes and demonstrations against the Bolivian government's wage policy have marked the end of a honeymoon period between workers and leftwing President Evo Morales.

A world people's referendum on climate change will be held in April 2011 for the earth's peoples to decide how to address this global problem.

Activists meeting at the people's conference on climate change in this Bolivian city booed a message from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon but cheered at host President Evo Morales's chant of 'planet or death!'

The philosophy of 'Living Well' enshrined in Bolivia's new constitution is being put forward by the government as the basis for a global movement against consumerism, depredation of natural resources for profit, and current models of development.

The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which opened Monday in Bolivia, will reflect vigorous resistance to financial compensation for forest conservation in return for permits to emit greenhouse gases, activists told IPS.

Through their ancestral knowledge and traditions, indigenous peoples will make a unique and invaluable contribution to the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which begins Monday, Apr. 19 in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba.

Bolivia's governing Movement to Socialism (MAS) party did not achieve the same level of support in Sunday's regional elections as its leader, President Evo Morales, did in December.