The issue at hand

Various indigenous groups in the lowland regions of Bolivia (including the Takana, Chimane’, and Moseten peoples) are affected by current proposals by the national government under current President Luis Arce, and former President Evo Morales, to open indigenous lands and protected areas up to large-scale development, including hydroelectric dams, alluvial gold mining and natural gas extraction.

Examples of these projects are two proposed hydroelectric dams, El Bala and El Chepete. These dams would flood eighteen indigenous communities and displace thousands of people living in the region. There are many global actors (oil and natural gas companies) being granted access to indigenous territories and protected areas (such as Madidi National Park) by Bolivia’s government, but there is very little discussion about this issue at the international level. National and international NGOs and environmental organizations based in Bolivia are prohibited from speaking out due to a law passed in 2013 to limit civic criticism.

Madidi National Park has been identified as one of the most biodiverse places in Bolivia, where thousands of new species were recently discovered as part of a multiyear scientific expedition. The development of the proposed mega-dams would result in the destruction of key ecosystems and the loss of untold biodiversity.