The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, said that the United States “blackmails and threatens” countries that demand compliance to the international agreements that protect the environment.

He maintained that the United States government and other governments of industrialized countries threaten to cut back on their economic stimulus programs in Bolivia.

He said that this is because his country has declared in international forums “a firm position in defence of Mother Earth and the environment”.

Also, the president stated that Bolivia is aware that the world must make the right decisions to avoid the destruction of the planet – destruction that he says will happen as a result of the careless attitude of industrialised countries.

Finally, Morales said he is convinced “that all the changes in temperature in the world today are due to the excessive and irrational industrialization of the world’s super powers.”

It is worth remembering that in April, the president of Bolivia was the host of the Global People’s Conference on Climate Change.

Morales organized the event after the failure of the United Nations Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009.

The president expects that the conclusions of the conference will be discussed at the next UN Summit, which will take place in Cancun, Mexico at the end of this year.

Story courtesy of Agencia Pulsar, a news agency run by AMARC-ALC network of community radios

After 12 hours of debate, Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies approved a law that would limit mining and oil drilling activity in the country’s Andean ice fields on Thursday morning. The legislation’s provisions are similar to a glacier protection law that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner controversially vetoed in 2008.

While the Chamber of Deputies still has to debate and vote on specific details of the bill, the law is expected to move to the Senate for a final vote in August. Though the Senate vote will be close, Kirchner said she will approve whatever final version of the bill is passed.

Approved 129-86, the law declares all of Argentina’s glaciers to be “strategic reserves of water resources” and “public property”.

It bans “mining and oil extraction” in the glaciers’ watersheds, and places strict restrictions on industrial activity in surrounding lands, expanding the definition of a peri-glacial area. It also establishes a system to assess the environmental impact of commercial projects and outlines specific penalties for polluters.

“The bill protects glaciers and peri-glacial areas from any industry be it mining or fuels, or others that could affect the strategic drinking water resource,” said Alejandro De Miranda, a spokesman for opposition Deputy Miguel Bonasso, who led the bill.

Glacial watersheds provide Argentina with 70% of its “safe” drinking water. Industrial contamination and glacial retreat led the government to to announce “water” as one of the country’s five most pressing environmental issues in 2009, along with climate change, waste, deforestation, and conservation of protected areas.

During the debate, Bonasso strongly criticised the practices of Canadian mining company Barrick Gold, which he said uses toxic chemicals like cyanide and has dubious connections with the San Juan province government.

“We don’t want the endangered Andes mountains to be dedicated to gold mining with cyanide…for the benefit of a few people’s pockets,” Bonasso said. “We want there to be water for all Argentines.”

This version of the bill was a recent combination of conflicting proposals by Bonasso and the pro-Kirchner senator Daniel Filmus.

Bonasso had actually led the pro-Kirchner faction until the president vetoed the 2008 version of the law, causing him to defect in protest. While Kirchner cited the legislation’s potentially deleterious effects on economic activity in the effected regions at the time, environmental activists charged the president with being in the pocket of Barrick Gold.

The villagers affected by the oil spill in the Peruvian Amazon announced that they will protest against the company responsible for the spill. Pluspetrol spilled 300 barrels of crude oil into the Río Marañón.

Inhabitants of the 29 communities of the province of Loreto publicly announced that they will meet next Wednesday to discuss what actions to take.

The forefront of the complaints regards the broken promises on the part of the company of Argentine resources to distribute water and food.

Many communities of the region use the Río Marañón river basin as a source of drinking water.

The representative of Commons of Parinari, Mayer Curitima Caritimari, explained that “the representatives of Pluspetrol committed to handing out food, water and medicine but they still haven’t done any of that.”

In addition, Caritimari accused the company of “taking advantage of public opinion by stating in press releases that they have done everything they agreed to do when they know that’s not the case.”

The press secretary of Parinari, Rusbel Rimachi Canaquiri, said that “the intention is to close off the entire Río Marañón so that they can see the need for food, water and medicine.”

On 19th June, the company Pluspetrol spilled 300 barrels of crude oil into the river, just after an accident in Petroperú’s Saramuro terminal.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, a news agency run by AMARC-ALC network of community radios.

The High Court of Justice in the province of Córdoba will reassess the constitutionality of a law banning mining pollution.

Law 9526 was passed unanimously in 2008, but it being questioning by mining sectors, such as the Employers Chamber of Miners (CEMINCOR) and the Associations of Professionals in National Atomic Energy Commission (APCNEA).

They claim that the mining code implies a policy of permanent status and mining cannot be prohibited. They also argue that mining is a public interest and to prohibit it would be undermining the state.

The high court has rejected the request of the miners to suspend the law whilst analysing the possible unconstitutionality of the rule, which is regarded as a model law by environmentalists as it prohibits all nuclear mining.

Environmental lawyer, María Cuestas, recently spoke on Radio El Grito encouraging people to stay alert and organise themselves to defend the law.

Córdoba is one of seven provinces in Argentina where the mining of open cast metal using toxic substances is prohibited.