El impacto de las actividades extractivas sobre el derecho humano a un ambiente sano en Bolivia (2019-2024)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article critically examines the impact of extractive activities on the human right to a healthy environment in Bolivia during the period 2019–2024. The research adopts a mixed-methods approach that combines documentary analysis, case studies of emblematic conflicts, and in-depth interviews with experts, institutional representatives, and individuals directly affected by extractive expansion. The findings indicate that gold mining, particularly that carried out by the cooperative sector in both Amazonian and Andean regions, is a major source of persistent violations of the right to a healthy environment, as enshrined in Article 33 of the Bolivian Constitution. The study documents the systematic contamination of rivers and water sources with mercury, the accelerated loss of biodiversity, deforestation in protected areas, and cumulative health impacts on riverine populations especially Indigenous communities. It further identifies a structural gap between Bolivia’s protective environmental legal framework anchored in international commitments such as the Minamata Conventionand the weak enforcement of oversight and regulatory policies by the state. In response to this critical situation, the article proposes a set of legal and institutional reforms aimed at strengthening the effective protection of the right to a healthy environment. These include the adoption of stricter environmental control standards, a review of the legal regime applicable to mining cooperatives, and the incorporation of the rights of nature as a constitutional interpretative parameter. The conclusion emphasizes that institutional transformation is essential to reverse current extractivist patterns and uphold environmental justice in Bolivia.
Source: Sapiens Law and Justice
DOI: 10.71068/4m16ey29
Author: Nilda Ortiz Arancibia
Institution: Universidad Mayor de San Andrés
Language: Spanish
Topic: Environmental law and policy
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4413732103