Why the Media Distorts Bolivia's Environmental Record

[Judi Lynn]

Why the Media Distorts Bolivia's Environmental Record
By: Federico Fuentes



Published 22 July 2015 (10 hours 15 minutes ago)

The Morales government has overseen an astonishing 64 percent reduction in the deforestation rate between 2010 and 2013.

When Bolivian President Evo Morales announced in May that his government was allowing oil and gas drilling in national parks, mainstream and progressive media outlets alike were quick to condemn his supposed hypocrisy on environmental issues.

Writing for the Associated Press, Frank Bajak argued that although known internationally for his outspoken campaigning on climate change, at home Morales faces constant criticism from conservationists “who say he puts extraction ahead of clean water and forests.”

Bajak said this contradiction was a result of Morales’ strategy of developing extractive industries as a means for reducing poverty, irrespective of the environmental cost.

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Why-the-Media-Distorts-Bolivias-Environmental-Record-20150722-0016.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. Frank Bajak is one of the biggest pukes among the Associated Pukes.

I don't call them the Associated Pukes for nothing.

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From the OP:

Few (of the Pukes in Corporate Media--my interpolation) have paid attention to figures from both the governmental Forests and Land Authority (ABT) and the independent World Resources Institute that indicate the Morales government has overseen an astonishing 64 percent reduction in the deforestation rate between 2010 and 2013 (Figures for 2014 are not yet available). (my emphasis)

Deforestation is one of the biggest causes of climate change (too much C02 in the atmosphere).

This is an excellent article, and explains in detail the whats and whys of Morales' environmental policy, including his opposition to environmental NGOs who are trying to get control of Bolivian land and resources under the guise of corporate "carbon offset" schemes. We really need to be wary of NGOs for two reasons: NGO power-mongering in general (internally and externally), and NGO funding and/or origins (who is really behind them?).

It's easy enough for Frank Bajak and other media Pukes to criticize a country with one of the poorest populations on earth--after decades of a U.S.-backed racist elite in cahoots with corporations like Bechtel--and to IGNORE who the profits from Bolivia's gas and other resources are NOW benefitting!

Such media shits! They make me so mad! But their outright lies--and ignoring Morales' 64% reduction in deforestation IS a lie--are monstrous. Pure Corporate Propaganda. Thank God Telesur gives us an alternative source of information! And thank God for you, Judi Lynn, for keeping track of it all and bringing this info and these insights to DU!