Green Talk: Comparing the Discourse on Climate Change and Sustainable Development between Environmental NGOs and the State in Vietnam and Bolivia

Environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs) and national governments are key players in the political sphere surrounding issues of climate change and sustainable development. The relationships between the discourse on “climate change” and “sustainable development” and ENGOs and the state in both Vietnam and Bolivia provides a critical look into the ways in which these issues are approached in two highly-vulnerable countries with different political regimes. Live & Learn, the Centre for Marinelife and Conservation, and PanNature were interviewed as ENGO case studies in Vietnam; and Grupo de Trabajo de Cambio Climatico y Justicia and Proinpa were interviewed as ENGO case studies in Bolivia. Comparing the discourse from the ENGO interviews and websites depicting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s Law on the Protection of the Environment and Bolivia’s 2009 Political Constitution of the State elucidates the gaps left by state policies with regards to the needs of civil society in the context of climate change and sustainable development. The analysis also demonstrates the ways in which different regimes shape the culture of ENGOs and how this impacts climate change and sustainable development initiatives and action. Author’s Note I became interested in the relationship between environmental civil society organizations and government regimes while studying abroad through the School of International Training’s International Honors Program on Climate Change. As a self-proclaimed politics geek, I feel that for any significant movement, the relationship between government and civil society is essential to understanding how the different facets of the policy itself are shaped. In areas where the impacts of climate change are immediate and salient, particularly in the developing world where regimes are different from the United States, this relationship will be critical in the coming years for the process of adapting and responding to a changing Earth.