Abstract

SAGER, Felicitas. Bolivia between Sustainable Development and the Exploitation of Nature - The political and legal framework of Agroforestry Systems as an example for sustainable agriculture. RevActaNova. [online]. 2014, vol.6, n.3, pp.194-209. ISSN 1683-0789.

The election of Evo Morales in December 2005 marks the beginning of an ambitious and revolutionary social project. The transformation process in Bolivia includes the (rhetorical) rejection of "Western"-dominant development paradigms and the promotion of a new worldview characterized by the respect of "Mother Earth", but the discourse about a life in harmony with nature is not necessarily compatible with the substantial dependency of the Bolivian economy on the extraction of non-renewable resources. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the political and legal framework of sustainable agriculture with the example of agroforestry. The challenges in the implementation of agroforestry are related with two phenomena. On one hand, analysis of laws and policy documents points out on various contradictions and tensions within the political programs and legislation, on the other hand the empirical research in Bolivia shows a gap between the discourse on sustainable development and concrete policies. Nongovernmental actors admit that there are some projects and programs supporting sustainable agriculture, but indicate a lack of national strategies and long term plans. Some of the explanations laid out for the existing contradictions between the discourse on sustainability and political actions taken, include inconsistencies in distribution of power between the different government levels, absence of a consensus on the right development paradigm, substantial dependency of the Bolivian economy on the extraction of non-renewable resources and the prioritization of certain social interests (agro-industry, cocaleros).

Keywords : Bolivia; Sustainable Development; Agroforestry; policy framework.

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