ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Wilderness Dams Galvanise Protesters
Environmental approval for the construction of five hydroelectric dams in Chile's southern Patagonia region has triggered nationwide protests in Chile, giving rise to a citizen's movement whose focus has gone beyond the question of the dams.
As many as 80,000 people (40,000 according to the police) took to the streets Friday May 20 through downtown Santiago; 50,000 did so Saturday in the port city of Valparaíso, 120 km north of the capital, where right-wing President Sebastián Piñera was giving his annual state of the nation address; and tens of thousands of demonstrators protested Saturday in 26 other cities.
The protests were the largest seen since dictator General Augusto Pinochet stepped down in 1990 after 17 years in power.
'We want room for participation, to decide on the kind of development that is good for the people of Chile,' Patricio Rodrigo, executive secretary of the Chilean Patagonia Defence Council — an umbrella group of NGOs carrying out the Chilean Patagonia without Dams campaign - told some 5,000 people in Santiago during the demonstration.
The main aim of construction of the dams is to provide electricity for mining corporations operating in northern Chile, more than 2,000 kilometres away, he said.
Sara Larraín, a prominent environmental activist and former presidential candidate, told IPS that the mining companies consume 40 percent of the energy produced in this South American country, and estimated that Chile could reduce power consumption by 25 to 30 percent by adopting energy savings measures, in lighting and engines, for example.
'I'm not referring to engines that don't exist yet, but to 'premium' engines that exist today at competitive prices on the international market,' she said. Environmentalists say there are barriers to importing non-conventional technologies which, they estimate, could provide up to 30 percent of the country's energy needs at competitive prices, especially in the areas of geothermal and wind power.
They say the origin of the barriers lies in the 'duopoly' made up of Endesa, a Spanish firm acquired by Italy's Enel utility, and Colbún, part of the Chilean group Matte, which together control 70 percent of the electricity market in Chile.
Endesa and Colbún are partners in HidroAysén, which plans to build five dams on the Pascua and Baker rivers in Patagonia, two of the wildest and most pristine rivers in the world. Endesa also holds water rights to both rivers, which has also raised the issue of the need to nationalise water, which was privatised during the dictatorship.
The Baker river has the highest flow of all rivers in Chile. And the southern region of Aysén is home to South America's second-largest lake, General Carrera, which is one of the world's biggest freshwater reserves. The controversy that has raged since the project was presented in 2008 was limited until now to local groups and organisations working to defend the Patagonian wilderness.
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service