More than 600,000 families in Bolivia affected by water shortages and drought

In Bolivia, half of the 336 administrative districts have been affected by persistent drought since 2022, with 5,559 municipalities and 647,015 families suffering severely.

Bolivian Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani reported this at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Regional Water Dialogues in Santiago de Chile.

He said that 90%t of the world’s natural disasters are related to water, while 10% of the world’s population lives in countries with high or critical water stress.

In Latin America, due to water shortages, climate change is the biggest challenge facing the region, he said.

The lack of rain affects agricultural production on 700,733 hectares of productive land and 1.5 million head of cattle, mainly in the Chaco region of the departments of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca, and Tarija.

This will affect food security and sovereignty, Mamani warned.

The water shortage currently affects 168 municipalities in seven of the country’s nine departments: La Paz, Oruro, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, Potosí, and Tarija.

The only regions without rainfall bottlenecks were Pando and Beni.

According to the National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology, the drought in the country will continue until the first quarter of the year, especially in the west.

Heavy rains are expected in the east and in parts of the Amazon, sometimes with flooding.

This is the third year since 2020 that the region has faced the La Niña weather phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the government of President Luis Arce has launched an aid plan worth Bs122 million (about US$17 million) to support the affected communities.

The National Program for Coping with the Drought will be implemented mainly to provide water, equipment, and infrastructure and to support farmers with livestock feed and seeds.

18 municipalities in La Paz Department received emergency government assistance in the form of water storage tanks and hoses for agricultural irrigation, as well as 205 water tank vehicles, equipment for well drilling, fertilizer, and other supplies.

Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo recommended that local authorities contact the Vice-Ministry of Civil Defense to assist affected families.

President Arce stated that the climate crisis does not only affect Bolivia, but the entire region and the world, changing the production cycle.

Therefore, a series of response and emergency measures must be taken. He announced two programs to support the agricultural sector: one for building dams and wells and another for building greenhouses for the highlands to become independent of rainfall, counteract frost and thus ensure food production.

Mamani also pointed out in Santiago that climate adaptation in the water sector would require significant financial resources to achieve climate resilience.

He argued that developed countries should focus their cooperation on this challenge.

The Deputy Foreign Minister also stressed the need to counter new attempts to commercialize water and other environmental services.

Indigenous peoples are in a particularly vulnerable situation concerning water supplies.

Latin America and the Caribbean are home to more than 58 million indigenous people from 857 tribes, inhabiting 20% of the region’s best-preserved territory.

Bolivia has recognized 36 indigenous nations.

The countries of the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) have 20% of the planet’s biodiversity, 10% of the world’s freshwater, and 33% of the world’s forest area, said Secretary General Jorge Hernando.

In 2010, after Bolivia’s initiative, the United Nations recognized the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation.

With information from amerika21