Peacereporter, Chile Report December 2010 The
water Patagonia
Camilla Martini
To see a map of the region dell'Aysén seem uninhabited. Lines drawn in 1927 to define the point in cuj starts, seem to indicate the beginning of anything. Here comes the Patagonia cilena, stretta tra le Ande e l'Oceano, una lunga striscia di terra protesa verso Punta Arenas, l'ultima città prima delle distese ghiacciate dell'Antartide.La carretera austral, costruita da Pinochet negli anni Settanta, attraversa per intero l'undicesima regione connettendo tra loro una manciata di cittadine e si conclude a Villa O'Higgins, quattrocento abitanti a ridosso del Campo de Hielo Sur, lasciando l'ultima regione al suo isolamento. Nonostante il nome impegnativo, Aysén del Generale Carlos Ibafiez del Campo, omaggio due volte al presidente, la regione conta poco più di centomila abitanti. Se la si guarda da una mappa si può intuire il motivo di una colonizzazione così recente: una costa che si rompe in centinaia di isole fjords and a mountainous hinterland shaped by glaciers, an inhospitable geography and so different from that of Argentine Patagonia. But we must see the region with their own eyes to appreciate its exceptional biodiversity. The inhabitants dell'Aysén never tire of repeating how lucky they are to visitors. "We live in a paradise." Hipolito Medina, Patagonia and true activist campaign since represas Patagonia (Patagonia without dams), complains about the traffic of Coyhaique, the regional capital, fifty thousand souls. Too many voices and too many cars for a person raised in absolute silence. "And try to imagine five thousand people have been forcibly relocated, distributed between Coyhaique and Cochrane, che ora non supera i tremila abitanti". Poi si corregge: si tratterebbe di cinquemila lavoratori, ma vanno considerate anche le famiglie. Basta guardarsi intorno per capire che il progetto di HidroAysen è molto più complesso di quanto non sembri su carta. Come si può pensare di costruire in dodici anni cinque megadighe in un territorio dove l'unica strada disponibile è sterrata e a tratti troppo stretta anche per far passare due auto insieme?
La Patagonia è diventata interessante anche per gli italiani, da quando Enel ha acquistato Endesa, e con essa HidroAysen. La campagna Patagonia senza dighe nasce quest'anno in risposta al richiamo delie oltre sessanta organizzazioni cilene impegnate a difendere quest'area dai progetti idroelettrici di Enel. The first step is to send a delegation to know the region and meet the communities involved. "The project HidroAysen mean a great development opportunity for the residents of the Eleventh Region," reads the website of the company, paragraph, framed by beautiful images of wild nature, which suggests the site, will not disappear. And then, "Improving the lives of people, development of trade and greater connectivity." Hipólito, gaucho hat and drawn Mapuche, was born here and spent the past year to inform local people about the characteristics of the project and possible alternatives for a development that is fruitful in the long term. He explains that Aysénini live mostly cutting wood, fishing, farming and a small part of tourism. But the valleys are not as fertile and farming is very intensive, as well as cutting timber, which has already lead to the depletion of many of the primary forests. The construction of dams does not appear to be a plausible solution: the company needs skilled workers, who are not in the region. And once built, the signs would remain forever, with the result of blocking the most promising industry for the region: Tourism. To prove his words Hipólito continually stops the car and stretch your finger to show a particularly beautiful, but then added, laconically: "Here a tower for the transmission of electricity" or "This water, complete flooding of the valley." The roads we travel open to a variety of landscapes impossible to find elsewhere. No coincidence that Patagonia has been proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Aysen was declared by the regional authorities 'Conservation Area of \u200b\u200bCulture and Environment' in 2000. The Aysénini few hours on travel and you find a single house. Precisely for this reason it is impressive the amount of blow-ups, signs, writing: "Patagonia without dams." In addition to being the region where still live freely pumas, flamingos, black-necked swans, guanacos huemules and the Aysén houses one of the largest reservoirs of fresh water on the planet is immense Campo de Hielo Sur, leaning toward the region of Magallanes, and the Campo de Hielo Norte which underlie the Baker River, second longest river Chile to reach water.
Water is the most precious treasure of this region and the energy companies have realized for some time. The claims are statements ninety-six percent, ie to use the water dell'Aysén then re-enter the river without consuming it, now owned by Enel. The privatization of this essential commodity, provided by the recent decree Ronchi in Italy, Chile is a reality for over twenty years. The same people fighting in Italy for block the privatization are to have today a part of that ninety-six percent. The background to this paradox have been raised during the Pinochet dictatorship. Milton Friedman's economic model was embodied in a constitutional system and legal ultra liberal, and then in a series of privatizations that have come to hand over to private foreign companies full control of the country's resources. The case is emblematic of the water. Its marketing was settled in 1981 by the Código de aguas. According to the director general of water, Rodrigo Weisner: "It is not good that the water is free in its use and all that's free is misused" because "the market is a good mechanism for reallocation of resources. "But in fact, these rights have never been in a real game market. In 1989, the last year of the dictatorship, some officials of the regime responsible for initiating the privatization sold at a nominal price the consortium Electric Enersis, which also included Endesa-Chile. Eighty percent of the water rights are not statements of Endesa-Chile Chile had registered so far passed into private hands at no cost and in total absence of a democratic process. In 1997, the same officials, past to manage the new business, sold the consortium Enersis to Endesa-Spain for fifteen hundred million dollars. "What the Código de Aguas has produced has been the accumulation of this natural resource in a few hands, "said Sara Larrain, director of the program Chile Sustentable, ecologist and long-running as an independent candidate for president in 1999." However, this Code, which was approved in Chile where there was a National Congress, nor political parties or trade unions or environmental groups or consumers, or free expression, he continued to be applied with complete peace of mind during the democratic transition. "Endesa has not been so great difficulties for HidroAysén, strong of its water rights of region. This is an extremely ambitious hydroelectric project: five dams on the Baker and Pascua river, capable of generating 2750 MW, an amount of energy equal to about twenty percent of the entire generation capacity currently installed in the country. Five dams which means six thousand hectares of flooded land, native forests lost forever and a violent change of habitat for all flora and fauna of the area. The total energy would then be transported to the north, to meet the needs of the metropolitan region and the mining industry. This also implies a long transmission line of two thousand three hundred kilometers, the longest in the world, with six thousand towers from sixty to seventy meters. The company is
HidroAysén forty-nine percent of the Chilean Colbún and for fifty percent of Endesa. When, in febbraio 2009, Enel acquista Endesa, eredita dall'impresa spagnola anche i diritti sull'ottanta percento delle acque del Cile. Luis Infanti de la Mora, vescovo dell'Aysén, decide dì partecipare all'assemblea annuale dei soci, il 29 aprile 2010 per convincere Enel a lasciar perdere il progetto che l'azienda ha ereditato insieme a quei diritti. "Enel, essendo proprietaria del monopolio dei diritti non consuntivi sull'acqua potrebbe fare in Cile quello che vuole, ma noi ci chiediamo se realizzerebbe, oggi, in Italia o in Europa progetti come quelli pensati per la Patagonia". Il vescovo si fa portavoce, nei dieci minuti che gli vengono concessi, di più di settanta organizzazioni cilene raccolte sotto il nome di Consejo por la Defensa de la Patagonia. No direct response has reached the Board, but the day after the meeting the CEO of Enel, Fulvio Conti, rushed to speak with the newly elected president of Chile, Sebastian Pinera, confirming their commitments. When we received at his home in Coyhaique, the bishop is satisfied: after years of indirect attacks, the company decided to confront it and the general manager of HidroAysén, Daniel Fernandez, asked for a meeting the following week. As a religious Bishop Infanti decided to take on an issue that goes beyond the environmental concerns. "HidroAysén a disorder that led to the region, to encourage people to take one side or the other, for or against." The company uses the methods of the legal limit "are trying to buy people." In say, apologizes: "These words are a bit 'strong, but we are experiencing here in Patagonia: people buy with seemingly useful benefits for the communities and people in need, but it is a way to reduce their ability to judge" . It is an easy game in a region so poor, where most people live on odd jobs and state subsidies. The charge is confirmed by the people we encounter on our journey and by the same representatives of the community. CaletaTortel lies at the mouth of the Rio Baker, has five hundred and seven residents until 2003 and was accessible only by boat. The mayor is one of the few a resistere alle lusinghe dell'azienda: "Sappiamo cos'è la povertà, ma abbiamo anche visto cosa succede quando si costruiscono dighe di questa dimensione". Il riferimento va alle dighe costruite da Endesa sul Rio Bio-Bio. Il risultato è che il settantotto percento dei cittadini si dice contrario al progetto nonostante HydroAysén arrivi ora a consegnare soldi direttamente atte juntas de vecinos, i consigli di quartiere, per finanziare piccoli progetti comunitari ma anche migliorie alla casa e l'acquisto di attrezzi per il lavoro. Il comune si rifiuta di ricevere denaro dall'impresa e rilancia con una serie di progetti per lo sviluppo del turismo e per migliorare le infrastrutture. Di fatto, il municìpio possiede già una piccola centrale elettrica and solar energy which supplies the city, for free. This miracle does not mean that the administrative work for some people is a concern. I stop to speak with the manager of a small convenience store. Carlos lives aTortel for eighteen years, ever since he arrived with his spear in search of work. He kept on fishing and trade, has started a family. He tells me that his wife went to the doctor Coyhaique, a day trip to see a specialist. When I mention the dams ^ says without hesitation: "For us it is a good thing, a way to get work." He adds: "When HydroAysén arrived in Cochrane, everyone had money, everyone had work." Ask him if he is not worried the effects on tourism and the environment. "No, why do you suppose that the dam on Easter ... is not a populated area. I have worked for some time and there is no need for the helicopter to get there, no one lives there." I remind him that we speak of five dams, not a power line and a two thousand three hundred kilometers long. "Sure," he sighs, "the power line is the main problem." It is not the only one to be persuaded. Lawyers for the campaign since Patagonia represas have identified a number of lawlessness on which a lever to block the project. One of the critical points is the type of mining concessions have requested, cheaper and easier to get, to build a transmission line that would pass through sixteen areas protected by the state, thirty-two protected areas and private properties including many thousands of Mapuche land. The risk is that the legal action is not sufficient to reject the Environmental Impact Study by the Corema HidroAysén in 2008 (Comisión Regional of the Environment). The Chilean law says that the project is assessed by the regional organization, with the result that a huge project like that of HidroAysén can not be judged as a whole. "There is a real risk that once we accept the dams, the design of the transmission line passes without further comment." Marcelo Castillo is one of the few attorneys specialize in Chile in legislazione ambientale, ed è stato contattato direttamente dalla Fondazione Patagonica di Douglas Tompkins, principale finanziatore della campagna. "Abbiamo evidenziato la violazione del Trattato di libero commercio tra Cile e Canada, abbiamo fatto ricorso alla Corte Interamericana dei Diritti Umani e ci sono ancora moltissime possibilità". Nello studio in cui lavora Marcelo si dice che: "Se HidroAysén volesse vincere, dovrebbe licenziare i suoi avvocati". Dopo aver dato uno sguardo alle irregolarità del progetto, non sembra più una battuta. Sembra un modo velato per dire che la legge non conta molto, se ci sono altri poteri a spingere per l'approvazione. Durante tutto il viaggio si sono susseguiti gli attacchi indiretti da parte delle più alte cariche dello Stato. Il 25 ottobre il Ministro per l'energia, Ricardo Raineri, definiva "indispensabile per il Cile" un progetto come quello di HidroAysén, venendo meno al suo dovere di imparzialità. E proprio il 3 novembre, in coincidenza con l'arrivo della delegazione italiana a Valparaiso, sede del Congresso Nazionale Cileno, Pinera dichiara: "La questione non è se le dighe si faranno, ma come si faranno". A Valparaiso la Commissione per l'Ambiente impone una pausa ai lavori per ricevere i responsabili della campagna. Teresa Maisano prende la parola per mettere in chiaro che anche la società civile italiana si sente coinvolta in questo progetto. Parla a nome di ong, associazioni, comitati impegnati in Patagonia senza dighe, tra This campaign to reform the World Bank, the first to take action. "We came here for the first time after launching the campaign, because we are very concerned that our government, owner of thirty-two percent of the shares in Enel, use our money to build a project that we consider may have an irreversible impact on 'environment and the communities who live there. " The comments were greeted with some skepticism. David Sandoval, a former mayor of Coyhaique and Cochrane, dell'Aysén very popular in the region, claims the delegation wanted to use the Aysénini as rangers, precluding their further development prospects. It comes to development with the senators bancada green group inside the majority party, the Coaliciòn por el return. For them it is clear that the approval of the project would be extremely negative HidroAysén: leading to the closure of the energy market for almost a decade, postponing further the development of non-conventional renewable energies. But Chile has no energy policy. The decentralization that does not promote renewable profits comparable to those for large-scale hydropower and foreign capital to decide. The last is to meet Guido Girardi, of Union por la democracia. "Chile is fully open to foreign investment - he says -" Until it is cheaper, will focus on capital projects come questo". Come a dire che in realtà, il potere, lo stiamo cercando nel posto sbagliato.
--
“Io vivo una volta sola, ho solo una volta il tempo di agire nel mondo secondo la mia volontà, e muoio molto presto. Perché non dovrei fare tutto il possibile per la liberazione dell’umanità” GUSTAV LANDAUER
0 comments:
Post a Comment