“Do not cut the trees down. Are they people, that you should besiege them?” (Dt 20,19). Reflections in order to move from the Bolivian extractivist model to care for our Common Home

Abstract

The effects of the extractivist economic model that has characterized Bolivia from colonial times to the present day are increasingly evident in the face of the ecological and economic crises of our time. The exploitation and export of unprocessed raw materials not only leads to the loss of biodiversity and the contamination of soil, air and water, but also threatens the survival of indigenous peoples and the health of the population in the Bolivian Amazon in particular. Therefore, from the perspective of Catholic social teaching, this model of extractivism must be rejected because of its serious diminution of the value of life. However, the process of socio- ecological transformation cannot take place without a self-critical look at Christian anthropocentrism. Its overcoming must go hand in hand with sustainable ways of production that can rely on the ecological traditions of indigenous peoples.