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Bolivian President Evo Morales is set to meet with social movement leaders uesday upon his return from COP21 climate summit in Paris.
The agenda of the meetings has not yet been announced, but Morales has a history of bringing social movements to the forefront of discussions on the impacts of climate change and giving grassroots activists a voice in shaping the development of future policy.
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Pdte. #EvoMorales en #París: En #Bolivia cada martes tenemos una reunión ordinaria, con los movimientos sociales. #COP21
— Min. de Comunicacion (@mincombolivia)
November 30, 2015
“President Evo Morales in Paris: In Bolivia, every Tuesday we have a regular meeting with social movements.”
In his address at COP21 on Monday, Morales said he came to Paris armed with the proposals of social movements developed at the People’s Climate Summit hosted in Cochabamba, Bolivia in October.
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Morales also slammed capitalism for being the biggest threat to the climate and called for a transformation of “savage and destructive” practices to save Mother Earth based on an action plan drafted by social movements.
"If we continue on the path laid by capitalism, we are doomed to disappear,” said Morales.
Evo Morales en #COP21: "El capitalismo desencadena una fuerza destructiva a nombre del libre mercado" pic.twitter.com/Na2BpiU4Cr
— Juan Manuel Karg (@jmkarg)
November 30, 2015
“Evo Morales at COP21: Capitalism triggers a destructive force on behalf of the free market.”
Morales called on world leaders to listen to scientists and to front line affected communities and respond with urgency to the demand to put people before profits.
“We ask for an end to the irreversible destruction of the planet and remember that capitalism has developed an overwhelming and destructive life force, caused by the production of consumer goods that today destroy nature, with wars of conquest,” said Morales.
IN DEPTH: Latin America's Fight for a Just Climate Solution
Morales stressed the urgency for international action, saying that “complicit silence” of world leaders must end to face the crisis of being on the brink of humanity’s destruction after “capitalism turned everything into a commodity” over the course of two centuries.
Bolivia has been a central advocate in promoting climate reparations, which would see wealthy industrialized countries and corporations, historically responsible for fueling climate change, pay poorer countries in the global south to fulfill their climate debts and fund a global transition to clean energy.
OPINION: How to Avoid a ‘COP Out’ at the Paris Climate Talks
Social movements in Latin America have also been a driving force behind the fight for global climate action plan based on the framework of climate justice.
WATCH: Bolivia: People’s Summit to Take Proposals to Paris
