Year: 2021
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Shifting away from dominant anthropocentric paradigms, an energy transition based on a non-Western and non-human centred approach is taking shape in Bolivia. The country has adopted ecocentric regulatory instruments that recognise the rights of nature or Mother Earth and provide a solid legal framework for overcoming its fossil fuels-based energy system relying on ecological destructive extractivism. Indeed, this innovative regulatory avenue should enable the emergence of a new energy system that acknowledges the intrinsic value of all living systems and organisms – human and non-human – constituting Mother Earth. Using an ecocentric lens, this chapter critically examines the legal and policy frameworks promoting an energy transition in Bolivia – with a focus on grid-connected electricity generation – in order to determine to what extent they safeguard and protect Mother Earth’s rights and promote what is defined here as an energy transition in harmony with nature . In this context, the El Bala-Chepete hydroelectricity project is used as an illustrative example. The chapter concludes that undertaking an energy transition in harmony with nature is a daunting task that requires not only legal and policy frameworks recognising Mother Earth’s rights, but also that these are consistent and effectively implemented.
Source: Routledge eBooks
Language: English
Topic: Environmental law and policy
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W3156607438