Climate Change is About…
Bolivia, Climate Change and Water: A Real Life Story
This microsite is a project of the Democracy Center and an ongoing collaboration with various partners interested in communicating what climate change really means for people and thinking about what we can collectively do to mitigate and deal with it in a sustainable and fair way.
Visita la versión de este sitio en Español / Visit the Spanish version of this website
Welcome to Now
Far too often today, the crisis of global climate change is dismissed as something abstract, distant or off in the future. The people of Bolivia do not have that luxury. In Bolivia, as in many other “early impact” nations around the world, climate change is real, immediate and urgent. The Democracy Center has a long history of helping Bolivia tell its stories to the world, dating back to 2000 and the now-famous Cochabamba Water Revolt. Today no story from Bolivia is more urgent than how climate change is changing the country’s destiny by altering, in deep and powerful ways, its fragile relationship with water.
Whether you are a citizen or activist looking to deepen your understanding of what climate change means, or an educator or journalist looking for powerful ways to tell that story to others, we think you will find something useful in this new Democracy Center series. Stay tuned for more in the months ahead and follow our work on the Democracy Center’s main Climate and Democracy page.
Jim Shultz – Executive Director
Read the full version of this introduction in the April 2012 edition of Democracy Center News
‘Climate Change is About…Water’
Bolivia is a frontline country for climate change, a preview of what we can expect to see more and more of across the globe over the coming years. Here we take you through what climate change means for Bolivia and Bolivians in terms of its impact on life’s elementary support system: water.
The material is designed for readers to explore by themselves, but also to serve as an online presentation to share with others in a live setting. We will continue to add content to the site over time – you can sign up for email updates to keep up with those changes.
To navigate the material use the ‘previous’ and ‘next’ links below each post, or use the menu of chapter headings in the ‘Chapters’ dropdown menu above, the section menus to the right, or click on the images in the slider above. Links to more in-depth explanations are given at various points in the material, and all multimedia content has been categorized for easy access.
Start reading why climate change is about water
We hope you find both the content and format here useful. We are piloting a new approach to presenting our work with this site and are looking for feedback – please contact us with any comments and suggestions.
Acknowledgments
- This report was written by: Shawn Arquiñego
- Research and additional materials: Leny Olivera Rojas, Aldo Orellana Lopez and Shawn Arquiñego
- Editing and online publication: Mads Ryle
- Executive editor: Jim Shultz
- Additional thanks to: the communities of Pasorapa, Quillacollo and Khapi; Fundación Solón
Visit democracyctr.org to find out more about the work of the Democracy Center