Fundación Alternativas
Fundación Alternativas provides sustainable solutions to food insecurity in Bolivia’s cities. The organization unites private, civic and public efforts to construct policies, initiatives and programs which secure people’s access to nutritional meals. More specifically, Alternativas works alongside municipal governments to instigate collaborative dialogues, Municipal Food Security Committees, discussing immediate food needs. The organization also focuses on providing people with the knowledge on how, when and why they should invest in urban agriculture. Alternativas is the founder of the first urban farm, Huerto Orgánico Lak´a Uta, in the city of La Paz, where locals benefit from growing their own produce and convene once a month to cook and share their harvest.
***Individuals, Rural Communities
Fundación Gaia Pacha
Fundación Gaia Pacha is a Bolivian non-profit created by students at the Universidad Católica Boliviana San Pablo with the mission of reconstructing the collective consciousness in relation to the environment. Born out of necessity to protect their land, Fundación Gaia Pacha seeks to develop environmental solutions based on ethics, transparency, justice and solidarity, as well as to promote knowledge and awareness on climate action through educational efforts. Their Conscious Youth project connects local youth to their environment and provides them with the means and knowledge necessary to adapt to living a more sustainable lifestyle.
***Categories: Youth Organization, Sustainability, Environmental Education
Grupo de Trabajo Cambio Climático y Justicia
Grupo de Trabajo Cambio Climático y Justicia was founded in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2009 with the objective of promoting and coordinating action surrounding climate change and sustainable development. They seek to find alternatives in society that can counter the climate crisis, such as improving the processes related to the production and consumption of food and promoting renewable energy. They stand to defend the right to life for all human beings, which includes the right to a healthy environment. One of their main efforts has been to create a strategic alliance with neighboring countries to strengthen their initiatives to respond to local issues, such as the melting of the Andean glaciers and water security.
***Categories: Climate Change, Equity, Governance, Public Participation, Water
Liga de Defensa del Medio Ambiente
Founded in 1985, Liga de Defensa del Medio Ambiente (The Environmental Defense League), or LIDEMA, has become the most important environmental institution in Bolivia. For more than thirty years, LIDEMA has contributed to the creation of a more just, equitable, and sustainable society based on synergies and the development of local and national capacities. Beginning in 2005, the organization has been publishing its annual “HÁBITAT” magazine. This publication presents an accumulation of current environmental issues, and showcases the research and various other works from its member institutions. Through their ambitious approach to combating climate change, LIDEMA has been able to promote initiatives for environmental sustainability, capacity building, and community development with a gender perspective. In addition, the publication and implementation of their Environmental Agenda has enabled them to improve the national environmental situation.
***Categories: Climate Change, Communities, Equity, Governance, Sustainability
CIPCA
CIPCA is an organization based in Sopocachi, Bolivia with the sole purpose of furthering the political presence, and economic growth of both indigenous people and rural communities. The degradation of the environment is all too familiar to Bolivian citizens. To ensure proper management, CIPCA provides the tools and knowledge to create marketable goods that can create food security as well as a livable income. This organization also works closely with lawmakers and communities to create public policies that ensure the rights of these communities.
***Categories: Climate Change, Communities, Equity, Governance, Sustainability
Sustainable Bolivia
Founded in 2007, Sustainable Bolivia is a non-profit based in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Through partnering with community-led initiatives, Sustainable Bolivia aims to enact sustainable development and environmental conservation in the Bolivian Amazon. This organization seeks to achieve their goals through environmental education and research, community ecotourism initiatives, conservation and reforestation practices, and resource-management projects. Their work within the Aquicuana Reserve reflects their ability to work hand-in-hand with local communities in order to address the pressing environmental issues that are impacting them. Through programs such as the one implemented at the Aquicuana Reserve, Sustainable Bolivia is able to better ensure the protection and conservation of Bolivia’s unique biodiversity.
***Categories: Sustainability, Education, Research, Individuals, Communities
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
From its founding as the New York Zoological Society (NYZS) in 1895, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) now expands across 60 countries, collaborating with local and national governments to secure protected areas worldwide. Considered one of the 15 countries with “the greatest biological wealth”, Bolivia is home to The Greater Madidi-Tambopata Landscape, habitat to 11% of the world’s bird species and 12,000 plant species. The country’s program works to protect this and other protected areas, as well as indigenous community territories. In addition, the program supports native species and biodiversity research, and informs resource-management strategies in the country.
***Individuals, Organizations, Indigenous Communities
Reacción Climática
REACCIÓN CLIMÁTICA is a group of volunteers, established in the city of La Paz, Bolivia in 2010, whose mission is to increase public awareness about Climate Change, what it means and what can be done to face it. Given the socio-economic and environmental context in which the Bolivian population lives and the great threat posed by climate change, REACCIÓN CLIMÁTICA takes on the responsibility of promoting public participation to propose solutions to the problems that climate change produces. The organization focuses specifically on the youth, because they are the ones who will be impacted in the long term by these effects.
***Climate, Education, Individuals,
Fundación Tierra
Fundación Tierra is an organization that takes action to empower vulnerable populations in Bolivia, with a special focus on protecting Indigenous/campesino land. Tierra addresses issues related to land and territory, including conflicts between small farmers and large agricultural producers. They also attend to environmental concerns such as over-exploitation of land, expansion of agricultural frontiers, forest fires, and deforestation. They advocate for Indigenous communities in other ways such as fighting for the inclusion of specific questions about Indigenous territories in the census to gather official information about their population to better address their needs. They also report on issues such as the discrimination and endangerment of the Tsimane people and the impact of road construction on the Chiquitanía community.
National Organizations
