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Analysis: Environment

Greening the Venezuelan Constitution: Proposals from the Grassroots

By Rebecca McMillan, Jul 21st 2017

Activist Casimira Monasterio defends the territorial and cultural rights of Afro-Venezuelans during talks on July 11 at the Boli

Venezuela's grassroots movements say it's time for a greener constitution, and will demand greater environmental protections during the upcoming National Constituent Assembly.

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Steve Ellner Part II: Is the Bolivarian Revolution a Populist Failure?

By Steve Ellner and Lucas Koerner – Venezuelanalysis.com , Oct 17th 2016

Steve Ellner addresses a forum in 2014 on Chavismo in Caracas, Venezuela. (Archive)

Universidad de Oriente Professor Steve Ellner discusses a range of key issues in Venezuela, including the efficacy of state social programs such as the CLAPs, the Maduro government’s controversial Mining Arc, and the role of international solidarity. 

 

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Venezuela's Orinico Mining Belt: The Economy, Environment and Violence

By Carlos Egaña - Prodavinci, Sep 8th 2016

Open-pit mining is widely condemned by environmentalists for its impacts ecologically and damaging human cost (Archive).

Carlos Egaña explores the political, economic and environmental concerns surrounding Venezuela's controversial Orinoco Mining Belt project.

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New Commodity Frontiers in Venezuela: Extractivism’s New Leap Forward into the “Web of Life”

By Emiliano Teran Mantovani, Apr 20th 2016

An example of open-pit mining in Venezuela (archive).

The national government is now driving a significant geo-economic reorganization of territories around extractivism, with “Orinoco’s Mining Arch“ and “Orinoco’s Petroleum Belt“ as central projects. The appropriation of the last “virgin” areas of the country paves the way for new “accumulation by dispossession” processes, attempting to address the crisis of governability and accumulation model.

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Venezuela’s Outages and the Western Press’s Confirmation Bias Problem

By Peter Bolton – COHA , Apr 18th 2016

El Guri, Venezuela's largest hydroelectric dam. (Archive)

Western media deploy double standards in their coverage of water and electricity shortages in Venezuela, blaming the country's leftist government for problems common across the global South. 

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Questions for the President on Open-Pit Mining

By Lenin Cardozo – Aporrea , Mar 18th 2016

Open-pit mining is condemned by environmentalists internationally for its ecological and human cost, as well as its heavy use of

In an open letter to President Maduro, the author raises concerns regarding a recent open-pit mining concession by the Venezuelan government to Canadian mining conglomerate Gold Standard, which is likely to have severe ecological repercussions in the South American nation. 

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Venezuela Passes Law Banning GMOs, by Popular Demand

By William Camacaro - Frederick B. Mills - Christina M. Schiavoni, Jan 4th 2016

Archives (Entorno Inteligente)

The National Assembly of Venezuela, in its final session before a neoliberal dominated opposition takes the helm of legislative power on January 5, passed one of the most progressive seed laws in the world on December 23, 2015; it was promptly signed into law by President Nicolas Maduro. On December 29, during his television show, “In Contact with Maduro, number 52,” Maduro said that the new seed law provides the conditions to produce food “under an agro-ecological model that respects the pacha mama

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“Venezuela Must Raise the Flags of Campesinos Across the Globe against the Privatisation of Food”

By Manuel Suarez & Rachael Boothroyd Rojas- venezuelanalysis.com, Nov 20th 2015

VA's Rachael Boothroyd Rojas talks with activist Manuel Suarez of the Venezuelan collective Homo et Natura about the monumental Anti-Transgenic and Anti-Patent Seed Law currently in debate in the country’s National Assembly.

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Guillermo Barreto: “If we don’t guarantee water for the future, then we aren’t socialists”

By Ciudad CCS/ Guillermo Barreto, Apr 29th 2015

Venezuela’s new Minister of Eco-socialism, Guillermo Barreto (HidroVen)

In this interview with Caracas based newspaper Ciudad CCS, Venezuela’s new Minister of Eco-Socialism, Guillermo Barreto, gives readers an insight into the government’s vision for its environment policy.

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FAO Representative Debunks Myth of Increased Hunger in Venezuela, Highlights Urban Farming Initiatives

By Marcelo Resende & Vanessa Davies – Correo del Orinoco, Feb 25th 2015

FAO representative for Venezuela, Marcelo Resende (Photo: Miguel Romero)

FAO Representative Marcelo Resende says Venezuela's urban agriculture is playing a key role in improving food sovereignty.

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"Change the System, Not the Climate!" Voices from the Social PreCOP

By Cory Fischer Hoffman - Venezuelanalysis.com, Nov 10th 2014

Members of civil society insisted that a transition be made from fossil fuels to community controlled renewable energy sources (

A warm ocean breeze rolled across the picturesque beach on Venezuela's Caribbean island of Margarita.

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Venezuela’s Indigenous Pemon are Caught in Time on Land Too Valuable for Numbers

By Z.C. Dutka- venezuelanalysis.com, Oct 21st 2014

A pemon boy rests on the way to Mt. Roraima. (Benjamin Mast)
In the shadow of Columbus Day, venezuelanalysis.com writer Z.C. sketches, through interviews, an intimate portrait of a changing people – the Pemon of Venezuela’s mineral-rich Southeastern border. Their testimonies of struggle reflect the country’s changing political landscape and highlights a stark generational gap that afflicts many of Latin America’s first nation peoples.

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Venezuela: 'People's Solutions' to Climate Crisis Set Out

By Friends of the Earth International, Green Left Weekly, Aug 14th 2014

Participants in the July social movement gathering on Isla Margarita, Venezuela, to discuss their demands ahead of UN climate ta

Social movements gathered on Isla Margarita, Venezuela, over July 15-18 to discuss their demands ahead of United Nations climate talks due to take place in Lima, Peru, in December.

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Changing the System, Not the Climate: July Social PreCOP in Venezuela

By Nathan Thanki- earth in brackets, Jul 15th 2014

The preCop on Margarita island began today. (@vencancilleria)

Nathan Thanki reports from Margarita Island, Venezuela, on the South American nation's unique approach in the first ever social preCOP on climate change.

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Before You Go (Or Decide Not to Go) to the PreCOP in Venezuela, Consider This

By Adrian Fernandez Jauregui – Earth in Brackets, Jul 7th 2014

The Orinoco river. Venezuela is categorised as one of the world’s seventeen “mega bio-diverse” countries (wikipedia.org)

The issue being raised by many of these European and North American activists is that Venezuela is a major oil producer and that attending such an event would lend tacit support to their fossil fuel extraction.  As a Bolivian, I believe the reality is more complex; this piece is my attempt to add nuance, as well as to call out some of the underlying assumptions of my Northern colleagues and allies in the climate fight.

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