Hope for Torres del Paine

Native forests in Torres del Paine National Park.

© HernánTorres

by Marcela Torres

The disastrous fire that razed 17,606 hectares (43,505 acres) of forests in Torres del Paine National Park between December 2011 and January 2012 inspired many people in Chile and other countries to help.

For example, some firefighting brigades from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Australia, came to provide assistance in controlling the emergency. Other people, in turn, raised their voices through the social networks demanding greater responsibility in tourism and support for the reforestation of Patagonia. Response was quick and in this entry we highlight two initiatives that bring hope for Torres del Paine National Park.

Rotem Zinger and the “Black to Green” Campaign

Who is Rotem Zinger? The Israeli tourist who caused the last fire in the Park. To avoid extending the trial against him, in February 2012 Zinger settled with the Puerto Natales Court a payment of 10 thousand United States dollars in compensation for the damages resulting from his actions and he will have to work as a volunteer between one and two years for the international non-governmental organization Keren Kayemet LeIsrael –which specializes in reforestation and has an office in Chile- taking over the role of coordinating the campaign “Torres del Paine, from Black to Green”.

The aim is to raise funds to reproduce at least 50,000 plants of native forest species in greenhouses in Puerto Natales that are owned by the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) –government agency that manages protected areas in Chile- in order to use them in the reforestation of the National Park. Zinger is forced to promote the initiative through different media, particularly among the Jewish community in Chile and its website, replicating the campaign carried out in 2011 to reforest Mount Carmel in Israel. In addition, he will need to present progress reports every three months to CONAF.

Although public opinion in Chile did not initially believe he would see this campaign through, something has already been done. On April 22 the initiative was officially launched with a call to the Chilean Jewish community in to continue showing its loyalty to Chile and Israel by supporting this effort to bring back the green to Torres del Paine.

Donations are being received in the following account:

Corporación Keren Kayemet Leisrael FNJ Chile

RUT 65.009.118-3

Banco Corpbanca

Cuenta Corriente Nº 3331692

Let’s Reforest Patagonia

At the beginning of May, a campaign called “Let’s Reforest Patagonia” was launched by several governmental institutions and non-governmental environmental organizations. This original initiative seeks to organize citizens to donate 1 million native trees that will be planted in the Torres del Paine and Laguna San Rafael national parks and in the Lago Carlota and Cerro Castillo national reserves during 2012.

How does this work? For each US $4.00, people making donations will be able to have a tree under their name in Patagonia. A grid is displayed on the website with green trees and burnt trees. To make a donation, a person must click on a burnt tree. Once the transaction has been made, the person receives a certificate with the coordinates of the place where the tree will be planted.

So far, the campaign has obtained funds to reforest more than 67,000,000 trees, according to the website’s counter. Therefore, there’s still time to help restore the beautiful Chilean Patagonia.

Let’s do it! Hope is not lost yet!

This entry was originally posted by the author on June 6, 2012.

Patagonia with dams?

Poster of the "Chilean Patagonia without dams!" campaign. 

© www.patagoniasinrepresas.cl

by Marcela Torres

The Chilean Patagonia’s landscape may change forever. Why? Because the recent ruling by the Supreme Court in favor of the HydroAysén project may bring about the flood of a large portion of one of the most pristine areas in Patagonia, which according to many people would cause permanent environmental damage and affect the region’s tourism, which promotes its untouched nature.

What is HidroAysén?

HidroAysén seeks to build and operate five hydroelectricity plants, two on the Baker River and three in the Pascua River, located in the Aysén Region in southern Chile. It is, no doubt, the largest energy project ever evaluated in the country until now. If the works are carried out, which would take approximately 12 years, it could have an average generating capacity of 18,430 GWh.

Besides the power plants, the project requires setting up more than 1,500 high tension towers between the towns of Cochrane and Chaitén. From there, the lines are designed to go underground to Puerto Montt and then overground again to Santiago, where the energy would enter the Central Interconnected System, which extends from the Atacama and Los Lagos regions and does not cover Aysén.

HydroAysén is managed by a joint venture between the largest power companies in the country, ENDESA and Colbún S.A., which own 51% and 49% of the company, respectively. Thus, they would control 80% of the country’s electricity generation, establishing a duopoly in the Chilean power market.

Civil society rejection and legal battle

Since the project was presented in August, 2007 it has been rejected by large part of civil society and the environmental movement in Chile. So much so, that 70 national and foreign non-governmental organizations established the Council for the Defense of Patagonia, better known for its “Chilean Patagonia without dams!” campaign, to avoid the construction of these power plants.

Why do they oppose? Because the development of HidroAysén requires flooding 5,910 hectares (14,603 acres) of native forests and habitat for unique species, such as the Huemul, one of the two deers found in Chile and faced with the danger of extinction. The organization also argues that the project contravenes all regional development strategies for Aysén, which emphasize the need to boost high-quality tourism products and sets the goal of positioning Aysén as a “Life Reserve”. For example, more than USD 500 million have been invested in tourism –mostly by small entrepreneurs-  in the Baker River Basin.

Civil society’s rejection and the organization’s persuasive campaigns were not enough, however, to convince the regional government authorities, who approved the project on May 9, 2011, setting in motion a series of demonstrations throughout the country that brought together people from the entire political and social spectrum. In fact, a poll conducted that month showed that 74% of Chileans oppose HidroAysén.

A legal battle began in June, 2011 when several injunctions were filed against the Environmental Assessment Commission of the Aysén Region, who approved the project, and to prevent HidroAysén from initiating the construction of the dams. The Puerto Montt Court of Appeals voted against the injunctions, however, and these were later also rejected by Chile’s Supreme Court on April 4, 2012 in a split ruling of 3 votes against 2.

So, what happens with tourism?

In September, 2011 the vicepresident of the Federation of Tourism Companies of Chile (Fedetur), which groups 28 large and medium-sized companies in the country, stated that “in the end it will be proved that the dams do not have an impact on tourism” and that HidroAysén can “add value to tourism” in the Aysén Region.

These comments caused fury among environmental organizations and particularly in Aysén’s tourism sector. Several chambers of tourism in the area issued a joint public statement indicating that “neither Fedetur nor Achet can feel they have the right to appoint themselves as ‘representatives of the tourism sector’ of Aysén and they cannot presume of expressing our feelings because their visions are very far from what is real.”

Uncertain future

So, why does HidroAysén receive support from the Environmental Assessment Commission, Chilean courts and a trade association that gathers large and medium-sized tourism companies if almost the entire country is clearly against it? The most likely explanation is in the power of large corporations. In fact, it has been revealed that one of the Supreme Court judges who voted in favor of the project owns 109,804 shares of Endesa, which amount to more than 97 million pesos (approximately 200,537 United States dollars).

The real issue, though, is Chile’s energy policy and the need to harmonize the development the country requires for achieving progress and the moral responsibility of preserving our natural resources for future generations. This is especially true if we consider the recent social movement to demand better access to energy in the region, which extended from February 8 to March 23, 2012 and resulted in the removal of the Ministry of Energy.

HidroAysén states that its Project “will only flood 0.05% of the Aysén Region” and that, in compensation, it will improve 187 kilometers (116 miles) of highway, it will build a dock and a cattle slaughter plant and it will buy equipment for three public health posts. However, all of these works are mainly intended to supply the people who will work in the project. In addition, its website announces that the power plants will require “a monthly average of 2,260 workers for an estimated period of 12 years, reaching a maximum of 5,000 workers, of which at least 20% will be local labor, a figure that is expected to increase over time.”

Although the Supreme Court ruling in favor of HidroAysén to build the five power plants is a tough blow on the civil society movement, there is still a long road ahead. Environmental organizations hope they can stop the approval of the high tension towers supply line that HidroAysén needs to transport the energy it will produce, since it will go through 780 private properties and it will require cutting down 100 hectares (247 acres) of forests and intervening another 600 hectares (1,482 acres).

Not everything is lost. We hope that this project is not approved in the end and the country will search for other means of satisfying its energy needs, so that Patagonia will not lose the charm that inspires thousands of people in Chile and all over the world to come visit.

This entry was originally posted by the author on April 7, 2012.