Latest scan of online newspapers for Bolivia news:
It’s been 8 months since the Referendum on the export of the sizable gas reserves and nothing has been resolved. This Washington Times opinion-piece criticizes the Indian leaders that wish to create a state monopoloy to control the reserves. It also cites examples of Alaska and Chad, where poor communities have benefitted from their natural resources by rejecting not tapping these reserves.
In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act addressed this directly by creating regional and village corporations comprised of native Alaskans. These received the right to exploit the resources of more than 44 million acres, with a $1 billion payout directly to native Alaskan shareholders. Native Alaskans still reap vast sums, totaling billions of dollars yearly.
Alaska’s indigenous-owned corporations now get the energy jobs and government contracts, using their revenue to create new businesses and jobs for their communities. As a result, structural poverty has vanished among targeted Alaskan indigenous communities in a single generation. The key has been ownership by indigenous people, not a state bureaucracy.
The Wildlife Conservation Society is trying to raise money to help Madidi National Park in Western Bolivia, which has been threatened by construction. The discovery of a new species of monkey may bring revenue to help manage the park.
The animal, a variety of titi monkey of the genus Callicebus, was first spotted in 2000 in Madidi National Park in Bolivia. Observations made since then convinced the discoverers — including Dr. Robert Wallace of the conservation society — that the monkey was a new species.
Ordinarily, the person who discovers a species has the right to name it, and species often have been named for people who supported research or financed an expedition.
An online auction will sell the naming rights for this new species. On February 24, the auction will begin on the site ww
w.charityfolks.com.
Comments (2)
It is not surprising. The WT is the conservative voice in the Washington area.
That Washington Times piece was a very interesting read… But my wife thought it was a bit idealistic.
She believes the author overlooked the fact that the Indians who have been fooled by Evo and company are Andean. The gas is not in the Andes, it’s in the east. The Guaranis, etc, who live around the gas support exporting it.
Even if such companies could be created, she says, the Quechuas and Aymaras couldn’t be stakeholders, and therefore wouldn’t benefit.
I’m a bit more optimistic, though. I think this sort of plan could liven up the debate since it might appeal to indian groups. But I have a feeling it would be a tough sell to the Comite Pro Santa Cruz and others tied to the petroleum industry.