Evo Morales Gives Green Light To Highway On Indigenous Land

When is development going against human rights? Let’s give a look to one of the most disputed development projects in Bolivia.

This month President Evo Morales enacted a law that gave green light to a very controversial highway. This development project has for several years been opposed by environmentalists and the indigenous movement since it cuts through Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (well-known as TIPNIS).

The road will divide the park into two areas along 300 km, ripping this territory off its ecological reserve status. Many scientists and conservationists agree on the possible environmental impacts: contamination of main rivers, opening space to illegal logging and alteration of habitats to endangered species.

Extraction over ancestral cultures and biodiversity

The construction of this highway is part of a bigger plan. The highway aims at adding to the existing Brazilian-led effort commonly known as IIRSA (Initiative for the Regional Integration of South America). This entails a network of 531 mega-projects that include hydroelectric dams, highways, bridges, and electrical power systems that seek to ease the flow of transportation of soybeans across the region.

But the impacts are not only economic. The highway will considerably affect the traditional way of life of three indigenous groups: the Tsimanes, Yuracarés and Mojeño-Trinitarios. Not to say, the everyday life of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation, which are also believed to find shelter in the park.

The controversy now faced by Morales is only the tip of an iceberg in the region. Development choices seem to be at a crossroads in South America and indigenous demands make visible the increasing conflict between extraction and human rights.

Will Evo Morales ignore the indigenous demand?