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Bolivia will take a biocentric approach to the World Water Forum

The minister assured that during his speech at the forum, which will be held in New York from March 22-24, the President will try “to change the anthropocentric vision and move towards a more harmonious model with Mother Earth, in which Water is essential for all living beings and for all living systems”.

The head of Bolivian diplomacy announced this information at the conclusion of the National Meeting of Dialogues for Water for Life at the Casa Grande del Pueblo (Government Headquarters), which was attended by experts and holders of ancestral knowledge from across the country.

With this meeting, the work on elaborating Bolivia’s common position towards the global forum, which will pay attention to the comprehensive mid-term review of the implementation of the goals of the international Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028”, was completed.

According to Mayta, the Bolivian proposal was constructed in a “plural and democratic” manner between March 3 and 10 in debates that included all regions of the Andean-Amazon nation.

Mentioning its content, he described how he seeks to “reaffirm the right to drinking water and sanitation as an essential human right for full enjoyment of life and all human rights”.

He pointed out that the text proposes that at the next Earth Assembly in 2024, acknowledging that water is the center of life and also establishing that rivers, lakes, basins and mother earth are subjects in law.

Bolivia also proposes the creation of a permanent intergovernmental water mechanism at the United Nations that would promote the manipulation, management and conservation of the vital fluid and the eradication of poverty.

Among the ideas summarized by Mayta in 12 points, the one that stands out recognizes the authority of communal management of water and basic sanitation by local conglomerates and indigenous peoples.

It is also important to establish debt relief for developing countries whose financial resources have been dedicated to water production and access, water adaptation and climate resilience.

The initiative calls on developed countries and international and multilateral organizations to provide greater financial resources through international assistance to manage, sustain and mitigate the effects of the water crisis.

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