The Canada-Bolivia Solidarity Committee of Vancouver is hosting an important forum this week, Thursday, June 10, featuring Robert Lovelace reporting back from the Cochabamba Climate Summit hosted by Bolivia in April. The results of the Cochabamba Summit, known as the Cochabamba Protocols, can be read in full at the Reading from the Left website.
Lovelace was a delegate to the summit. He will be joined at the June 10 forum by Ben West of the Wilderness Committee, who will speak about local climate and environmental campaigns. Here’s the Canada-Bolivia Solidarity Committee release announcing the event.
Delegate to Bolivia Climate Summit in Vancouver for Report Back Forum
Robert Lovelace, a renowned environmental activist and former chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, will be in Vancouver this week to report back from the Cochabamba Climate Summit hosted by Bolivia April 19-22. Lovelace was part of the delegation from Canada to this historic international gathering.
The main public forum will take place Thursday, June 10, 7pm at SFU Habour Centre Campus (515 W. Hastings, at Richards).
“The Cochabamba Summit, initiated by the Bolivian government headed by indigenous President Evo Morales, was an unprecedented gathering of thousands of climate activists from around the world,” explained forum organizer Adriana Paz from the Canada-Bolivia Solidarity Committee.
The Summit resulted in the People’s Agreement of Cochabamba (see http://pwccc.wordpress.com/), and Paz explains that the summit was “a conscious effort to present an alternative to the Copenhagen Accord which was imposed by the United States and which fails to take the radical action needed to avert climate catastrophe.”
Robert Lovelace is an adjunct Professor at Queen’s University in the Department of Global Development Studies, and an activist in anti-colonial struggles. In 2008, he spent 3 and a half months as a political prisoner for his part in defending the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation homeland from uranium exploration and mining. Local environmental activists will also participate in the Thursday forum, and have noted the importance of the Cochabamba Summit.
“The climate summit in Bolivia should be a wake up call for us in Canada,” said Vancouver activist Ben West, of the Wilderness Committee. “People across North America are saying BP should pay for clean up costs for their oil spill in the Gulf, and the same is true for this country’s role in facilitating the climate changing pollution of our atmosphere. Canada must play a responsible role in the world,” added West.
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government did not participate in the Cochabamba Summit, and has been widely criticized by environmental groups for obstructing serious action to tackle climate change. Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
