Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Bolivian President Warns 'Carbon Colonialism' Won't Solve Climate Crisis
Brett Wilkins
02 Nov 2021
Bolivian President Warns 'Carbon Colonialism' Won't Solve Climate Crisis
Photo - Luis Arce/Twitter

Bolivia's president Luis Arce used the COP26 summit to speak against "green capitalism" offered by the rich capitalist nations and in favor of alternatives which put humanity at the center.

This article originally appeared in Common Dreams.

While rich country leaders pushed what critics called false capitalist fixes to the climate crisis during Monday's sessions of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, Bolivia's socialist president warned that true solutions to the planetary emergency require moving beyond capitalism to an "alternative model" that centers living "together in harmony with Mother Earth."

"We view with frustration the enduring global framework that hasn't finished defining a global solution to the climate crisis, which has become the principal problem we must face in defense of humanity and the life of Mother Earth," Bolivian President Luis Arce said during his address to the U.N. conference—also called COP26—on Monday. "We perceive that developed countries are simply buying time without any sense of responsibility for humanity."

Echoing concerns voiced by Indigenous activists, Arce said that "developed countries are promoting a new world recolonization process that we can call the 'new carbon colonialism,' because they are trying to impose their own rules of the game in the climate negotiations to continue feeding the new green capitalist system, while pushing developing nations to accept these rules of the game without any other options."

"The solution to the climate crisis is not going to be achieved with more green capitalism and more global carbon markets," stressed Arce, who is also an economist. "The solution is to change the model of civilization and move towards an alternative model to capitalism, the concept of living well together in harmony with Mother Earth."

The president said that if the nations of the Global North truly want to be leaders in tackling the climate emergency, they must reduce emissions within the framework of the Paris climate agreement, promote an equitable distribution of "atmospheric space," and provide financial and other resources for developing nations.

"If the current generations do not solve the climate crisis, this will be a very heavy burden and impossible to solve for the generations to come," he warned.

A 2009 Oxfam report predicted Bolivia would suffer acute food and water insecurity, disappearing glaciers, more frequent and severe natural disasters, increased mosquito-borne diseases, and more forest fires as a result of human-driven climate change. Last December, the group issued a follow-up report which confirmed many of the earlier predictions, including a water crisis driven by glacier melt, dengue fever outbreaks, and historic forest fires.

Climate Change
COP26
Global South
Bolivia

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

COP27 Deliberations Reaffirm Imperialist States as Main Obstacle to Ending Climate Change
Abayomi Azikiwe
COP27 Deliberations Reaffirm Imperialist States as Main Obstacle to Ending Climate Change
16 November 2022
Developing countries and mass organizations at the COP17 summit continue to demand compensation for damage and loss created by fossil fuel prod
Money for Weapons as the World Burns
Vijay Prashad
Money for Weapons as the World Burns
11 May 2022
$100 billion was pledged to assist the Global South amidst the climate change crisis but world wide defense spending now exceeds $2 trillion.
Divided World: The UN Condemnation of Russia is Endorsed by Countries Run by the Richest, Oldest, Whitest People on Earth But Only 41% of the World’s Population
Roger Stoll
Divided World: The UN Condemnation of Russia is Endorsed by Countries Run by the Richest, Oldest, Whitest People on Earth But Only 41% of the World’s Population
28 March 2022
The UN General Assembly vote on Russia's intervention in Ukraine indicates that most of the world's people do not condemn this action.
Musings from the Margins
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Musings from the Margins
09 March 2022
U.S. determination to be the world's hegemon created the crisis in Ukraine.
Don't Look Up Reflects the Cynicism of Capitalist Decay, for Better and for Worse
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Don't Look Up Reflects the Cynicism of Capitalist Decay, for Better and for Worse
05 January 2022
The controversial film offers insight into the crisis of the system but misses the mark in key areas.
COP26 climate meeting
BAR Editors
COP26: Black Agenda Report Special Issue
17 November 2021
Black Agenda Report is giving special attention to the recent COP26 climate summit.
Climate Action Pretense at COP26
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Climate Action Pretense at COP26
17 November 2021
Joe Biden’s presence at COP26 was a photo opportunity giving the impression that he is fighting the climate crisis. But the U.S.
Industrial Nations Value Capitalism Over People  at Global Climate Conference
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Industrial Nations Value Capitalism Over People at Global Climate Conference
17 November 2021
Inaction on the climate crisis is to be expected when capital is valued more than humanity.
COP26 Was a Failure But the People's Alternative Can Still Be a Success
Monthly Review Online
COP26 Was a Failure But the People's Alternative Can Still Be a Success
17 November 2021
COP26 ended the way climate summits always do, with promises for change from countries which have every intention of keeping the status quo.
Behind the Scenes at COP26: Developing Countries Fume Over U.S. Pressure to Alter Climate Finance Terms
Rishika Pardikar
Behind the Scenes at COP26: Developing Countries Fume Over U.S. Pressure to Alter Climate Finance Terms
17 November 2021
Rich capitalist nations use a variety of means to escape paying compensation to the Global South for climate change damage. The outcome at COP2

More Stories


  • INTERVIEW: Randall Robinson: Third World Advocate, 1983
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: Randall Robinson: Third World Advocate, 1983
    29 Mar 2023
    Remembering Randall Robinson: Black internationalist, anti-imperialist, and friend of Haiti.
  • Uganda LGBTQ Law Obscures Crimes Committed on Behalf of the U.S.
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Uganda LGBTQ Law Obscures Crimes Committed on Behalf of the U.S.
    29 Mar 2023
    Uganda's anti-LGBTQ legislation has elicited worldwide condemnation. But that nation's history of invading, pillaging, and killing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with U.S. blessings, is…
  • 2023 Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize Awarded to John Williams Ntwali and Kambale Musavuli
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    2023 Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize Awarded to John Williams Ntwali and Kambale Musavuli
    29 Mar 2023
    The Victoire Ingabere Umuhoza Prize for Democracy and Peace is awarded to people who work for democracy, peace, and freedom in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
  • Saturday Mornings
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Saturday Mornings
    29 Mar 2023
                                                                                                                        Saturday Mornings                                              
  •  BAR Book Forum: Hugo ka Canham’s Book, “Riotous Deathscapes”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Hugo ka Canham’s Book, “Riotous Deathscapes”
    29 Mar 2023
    This week’s featured author is Hugo ka Canham. Canham is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand and coeditor of Black Academic Voices: The South African Experience.…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us