Americas > South America > Chile > Chile Environment Profile 2012

Chile: Chile Environment Profile 2012

2012/02/29

          更多  

 

 

 

Chile Environment Profile 2012

Since the early 1990s the National Council for the Environment (CONAMA), has been responsible for the environment. This will be replaced by an environment ministry (the Senate’s Environmental Committee approved the proposed bill in July 2009). Though to date environmental institutions have been very weak, new economic projects are required to incorporate an environmental impact report. Chile has signed international standards attached to free trade agreements on the subject, and authorities publicly attach great importance to sustainability. However, conflicts still persist in the wake of new mega-projects in mining and electricity, as well as others that affect the soil. The negative impact on water resources are compounded by energy problems shared with neighbor countries.

A good example in the mining sector is the case of Pascua Lama, a mining development that contemplates the exploitation of open-pit mineral deposits of gold, silver and copper, and provides processing for products such as gold, silver and copper concentrate. The project is conceived as binational, with construction and operations both in Chile and in Argentina. While the company has an alleged policy of environment protection, the project holds the possibility of destroying glacial terrain, and by extension, their water reserves. Thus, its sustainability is highly questioned. In the energy sector, the construction of hydroelectric plants in the Aysén region, in the south of the country, has triggered an important debate over the potential negative effects, including potential annual losses of more than 4,000 jobs in the tourism sector and problems in the development of agriculture and livestock in the area. Strong campaigns have been prompted by civil action, some of them with a favorable outcome. In October 2008, the Advisory Council of the Native Forest Act was established, referred to as the first step in implementing the Law on the Restoration of the Native Forest and Forest Development. These measures are a response to past destruction of southern Chile’s native forests. However, the legislation in these issues is not given high priority, and there is an important segment of researchers that sees environmental sustainability to be at odds with the country’s current model of growth.