Solon Foundation

Fundación Solón is an organization that denounces the pain points in the current development path, and strongly focuses on systemic alternatives that are sustainable. The starting point in the alternative approach is that justice, human rights and nature are central.  

Renewable and environmentally friendly energy  

In recent years, Bolivia has focused on investing in new energy sources that at first glance seem green - such as plans to build large-scale hydroelectric power stations. These have been met with resistance from the surrounding communities, as they would be thrown off their land. Fundación Solón's research shows that these hydroelectric power stations are not environmentally or climate-friendly, and are even an economic fiasco. The government then also started promoting the production of sugar cane, to be sold as biofuel. This plan is at the expense of food crops and the Amazon rainforest. The organization supports local communities in their campaign to stop these harmful projects. At the same time, alternatives are being developed, such as an effective policy for the expansion of solar energy, based on the European model. Fundación Solón brings together various groups - including young activists, scientists and journalists - to bring the alternatives to the public attention and onto the political agenda. 

From the fight for the TIPNIS area to the preservation of the Amazon region  

Solón has also made a very important contribution to the resistance against the construction of a controversial road through the TIPNIS area. This is an officially protected area, because of its biodiversity and because it is the territory of indigenous communities. The road would mainly allow new oil extraction and at the same time be useful for the coca farmers, but for the area and its inhabitants it would be a fatal decision. There are even greater challenges, linked to the expansion of agriculture and cattle breeding in the Amazon region. The Fundación Solón provides information about how all these measures conflict with human rights, and advocates good environmental management and fair climate policy. Together with the local population and activists, an attempt is being made to reverse these disastrous trends. Various strategies are being used for this. For example, both cases were submitted to the International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature, which delivered a devastating verdict on the TIPNIS issue. In the Amazon case, the Tribunal ruled that the largest ecocide currently taking place is in the Amazon region.   

Systemic alternatives 

The Fundación Solón is a think tank and strong promoter of systemic alternatives, such as 'buen vivir', the commons, de-growth, deglobalization, ecofeminism, food sovereignty etc., with the aim of having an interactive dialogue to deepen the analysis and strengthen the alternatives. They approach the systemic alternatives in a holistic way, with an emphasis on the different dimensions such as: environment, economy, inequality, cultural diversity, gender and discrimination. In this they collaborate with regional and international organizations and networks.  

'Global Assembly for the Amazon'

From South America, there are numerous initiatives that civil society organisations from the various Amazon countries are pushing forward. In this way, they are trying to give more force to the rights of the Amazon region. Fundación Solón is one of the drivers of the 'Global Assembly for the Amazon', a large action platform against ethnocide, ecocide and extractivism in the Amazon region. Since it is becoming increasingly clear that the official COPs (international climate conferences) are not making enough difference, the organisation now wants to help shape alternative 'Earth Assemblies', where civil society and activists develop more effective proposals and put pressure on the official bodies.