I would like to see Bolivia. It’s on my list of places to visit.
]]>This article isn’t about the trash problem in Latin America, but rather about the problem in Uyuni. It’s not typical for high traffic tourist destinations to have extremely poor infrastructure and unsightly landscapes. Trash may not be disposed of properly in many cases, but it doesn’t sit in the streets in Sucre. You don’t see it covering Isla del Sol, but you do see all over Uyuni. The people are rummaging though it just outside of town. The question here is why does this tourist town buck the trend?
Locoto, thanks for the in depth thoughts.
]]>About all of the garbage, my bet is that the salts are owned/operated by the government. If you are interested, you can check out these two articles:
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/why-socialism-causes-pollution/
http://mises.org/daily/4464
The government has less incentive to monitor and maintain the land, leading to more pollution. The same thing is true in the US. The most polluted land is almost always government owned (although some government land is also extremely clean). Setting up a legitimate system of property rights and a legal system that supports them is the best thing that can happen to the environment.
If the salt flats were sold or leased to a private non-profit company and a legal system allowed them to monitor and collect damages, there would not be nearly as much environmental degradation.
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