[{"bbox": [97, 153, 1135, 234], "category": "Text", "text": "minorities and women. More water and sewage connections in the urban and peri-urban areas (without appropriate disposal and reuse), but also inappropriate water use in industrial and mining activities, result in high levels of pollution."}, {"bbox": [97, 244, 1135, 299], "category": "Text", "text": "Another source of conflict and contamination is represented by **mining** activities, which have caused significant environmental damage to the land and natural resources of the poor communities located in mining areas."}, {"bbox": [97, 310, 1135, 603], "category": "Text", "text": "The expansion of the agricultural frontier, perpetrated by the agribusiness actors, new settlements, and illegal land acquisition, including of indigenous lands, generates a heavy pressure on land use change, mainly in key ecosystems in the south-eastern part of the country (Chiquitanía, Chaco and Pantanal). In turn, this has negative consequences on the **livelihoods of populations in situations characterised by vulnerabilities, poverty, rural and nature-dependancy**, especially small-holder farmers and indigenous communities. The latter are already victims of an inequal land distribution, whereby in the east of the country 60-70% of cultivable land is held by a few thousand large landowners, and only 5-10% of the agricultural land is held by hundreds of thousands of indigenous smallholders. In spite of the fact that Bolivia has the opportunity to promote economically viable low-emissions land use models, such as agroforestry, silvopastoral systems and non-timber forest products (e.g. wild cacao, brazil nuts), the country is constrained by lack of technical expertise, informality and weak organizational capacity of producer groups, as well as difficulties in accessing higher-value markets."}, {"bbox": [97, 614, 1135, 854], "category": "Text", "text": "The above problems are compounded by **state weaknesses** in protecting the country's natural resources. State authorities charged with the protection of the environment and nature, lack capacity, financial support, equipment and trained staff, while environmental and climatic considerations are often overlooked by other state entities. In general, there is a low level of coordination to tackle climate impacts, between national and local governments, and between civil society and the government. Furthermore, there is an incoherence between the Government's declared climate policy and its action. The lack of available data, studies and general information, does not facilitate awareness-raising and climate actions. The political willingness to make use of the produced evidence and monitoring data is insufficient and translation of them into public policies is also low. The current extractive-based governmental policies further increase the threat of land use change."}, {"bbox": [97, 865, 1135, 1211], "category": "Text", "text": "The issue of **environmental and territorial rights** presents another set of problems. The Bolivian constitution contains important principles on environmental rights, but these are not fully enforced and, in some cases, lower-level norms damage such rights. The Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights (UPR) recommended Bolivia to “advance in the commitment to incorporate national human rights law, with special attention to labor rights, indigenous people’s rights and environmental rights”, and to “ensure that legislation on consultation with indigenous groups is well formed, consider indigenous people’s concerns and is effectively enforced”. There is increased recognition that indigenous territories can act as an important shield against deforestation, and that their inhabitants can effectively act as guardians of the rainforest, a role in which women are particularly crucial. However, human rights violations and socio-environmental conflicts around the environment, affect predominantly indigenous communities and women, not least in relation to land governance and management. The insufficiency of reliable institutional justice channels increases defenselessness and accentuate conflicts. Also, women’s work and contributions are made invisible and devalued, and consequently women are more active in environmental rights defenders’ groups."}, {"bbox": [97, 1224, 1135, 1278], "category": "Text", "text": "Identification of main stakeholders and corresponding institutional and/or organisational issues (mandates, potential roles, and capacities) to be covered by the action:"}, {"bbox": [97, 1289, 1135, 1582], "category": "Text", "text": "Main **institutional actors** (duty-bearers having the obligation to respect, protect and realise human rights, in particular those related to climate change/environment/biodiversity/water) include national authorities, sub-national authorities (Regional and Municipal Governments, Indigenous Autonomies), as well as the agro-environmental Court. Within the Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW), the Vice Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (VRHR, Spanish acronym) is the leading actor in the watershed management sector, setting policy, implementation strategies and guidelines for interventions, while coordinating with the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service for the functioning of an early warning system in flood-prone areas. The Vice Ministry of Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Forest Management and Development (VMA, Spanish acronym) is in charge of all environmental regulations and licensing processes, biodiversity strategies and programmes, biotechnology and biosecurity, wildlife trafficking issues. The National Service of Protected Areas (SERNAP, Spanish acronym) oversees the management of the 22 national-level protected areas, the Forest and"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1655, 1144, 1679], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 8 of 35"}]