2023-07-13 05:24:12
Nurses and nurses provide medical care to the people of La Paz traveling in electric cars. Image: Maria del Carmen Rocabado/Stadtregierung La Paz
German Development Minister Svenja Schulze wants to intensify the partnership with Latin America. The focus of cooperation: climate protection.
For six months, one of the highest cities in the world, La Paz, feels closer to the German city of Bonn. This is because the Bolivian government headquarters has the “Doctor in your home” service: six electric cars are used to transport medical professionals to reach the farthest corners of the Bolivian administrative capital. This is how they combine their health care with climate protection, in a model community partnership project between La Paz and the Rhine city, financed by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ).
“People here are very confident, because they know that, in an emergency, the cars arrive immediately at the scene. The city of Bonn has helped us a lot, because we want to continue to develop the topic of sustainable electric mobility, ”María del Carmen Rocabado, from the La Paz Municipal Planning Secretariat, tells DW.
Climate protection and adaptation to climate change are at the center of bilateral cooperation, such as the installation of photovoltaic cells on the roofs of La Paz. But also pilot projects against the threat of water scarcity, to create early warning systems in case of danger of landslides, and for the recycling of glass, paper and plastic, in order to improve waste management.
In November 2023, once again, the arrival of a Bolivian delegation to the former German capital is expected. La Paz and Bonn want – like many of the 130 municipal cooperations between Germany and Latin America – to raise cooperation to a new level. “Our goal is to implement an effective climate plan, which also reliably measures the greenhouse effect. In addition, we are very interested in making the cooperation a trio, adding Oxford, Bonn’s sister city”.
Latin America is no longer neglected by Germany
Success stories like this are the ones referred to by the German Development Minister, Svenja Schulze, when she talks about the new prospects for cooperation with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. To this is added that German politicians visit the region: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Argentina, Brazil and Chile earlier this year; German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock together with Labor Minister Hubertus Heil have just arrived from Colombia and Mexico, and Svenja Schulze also recently traveled to Brazil.
For years, Germany praised the close ties with Latin America, but now the German government finally seems to be turning words into deeds. This has a lot to do with the fact that Germany expects greater support from Latin America for Ukraine, after Russia’s attack on that country. But also with the lack of qualified personnel in Germany, especially in the area of nursing and health care, which this country wants to solve by attracting Latin American nurses. And with the “white gold” of the energy sector, lithium, essential for the move towards electromobility in Germany.
However, Svenja Schulze is concerned with one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change. For this reason, she wants to start a new chapter in relations with the subcontinent.
German Development Minister Svenja Schulze.Image: Janine Schmitz/photothek/IMAGO
“Germany does well to care for and intensify its cooperation with Latin America, as our world order will become increasingly multipolar. In that sense, it is clear to us that we depend on each other. Without the countries of Latin America, we will not be able to control climate change, ”Schulze said in Berlin, during the presentation of a document on his ministry’s position towards Latin America.
Joint climate protection, the biggest challenge
Climate change is hitting Latin America hard now, especially. The Uruguayan capital of Montevideo is running out of potable water; Forest fires ravage Chile and Argentina, raising carbon dioxide emissions to the highest level in 20 years. In Mexico, more than 100 people recently died due to heat stroke and dehydration, due to temperatures reaching 50º C. For this reason, the Minister of Development wants to help Brazil stop the felling of the Amazon rainforest, and encourage climate neutrality in the economy, with societies such as La Paz and Bonn.
Another aspect is the fight against crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, which the Ministry of Development wants to promote by supporting the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. One in three violent deaths in the world occurs in the region.
Likewise, the feminist development policy in Germany aims to combat the disadvantages that affect Latin American women. One goal: gradually increase the current female employment rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, which currently stands at around 49 percent.
Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze demands: “Women must be equally represented in leadership positions, offices and committees, and they need equal access to financial resources, such as land ownership or loans. Focusing more on women can become a real development driver for Latin America.”
(cp/ers)
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