Radio Mundo Real

The World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth that took place in April 19-22, 2010, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, became a historical moment for social movements and organizations that struggle for fair solutions to face the climate crisis.

Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, who passed away on April 13, 2015, in Montevideo, Uruguay, was present at the Conference through a letter, always being there for the dispossessed.

Hundreds of social movements and organizations from different parts of the world participated in the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which resulted in the renowned "Peoples Agreement", which continues to guide the journey in the struggle for climate justice. Around 25,000 people participated in the four days of activities. Back then, the social groups aimed to clearly express their demands after the failed negotiations of the UN COP 15 on Climate Change that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.

The official opening ceremony of the Conference was held on April 20. Several thousand people from all continents gathered in Tiquipaya Stadium, near Cochabamba city, to be present at the opening. Five activists, representatives of social movements of each continent, spoke at the ceremony, among others. Bolivian President Evo Morales delivered the closing lines.

In this framework, Diego Zorrilla, then Uruguayan Ambassador to Bolivia, read the letter sent by Galeano to the conference. "Sadly I won´t be able to be there with you. A spoke in the wheel is not letting me travel. But I would like to join this meeting of yours anyway, this meeting of mine, since I have to do the least I can and not as much as I want", stated the letter.

"I would like to also tell you that I wish everything possible be done, and also everything impossible, for the Mother Earth Summit to be the first stage towards the collective expression of peoples that do not run world policies, but who suffer from it", as if foreseeing the importance of this peoples´ space for the years to come.

By the end of the letter, Galeano advocated for "human rights and nature rights to be two names of the same dignity".