Protecting Chile's Ecological Resources

Over the course of my trips through this beautiful country, if there is one thing I realized, it's how amazing and often abundant Chile's natural resources are. However, it goes without saying that it doesn't take much to tip the scales in the opposite direction.

During my time working for the University of Chile's Law School's Center for Environmental Law, I've been exposed to a great deal of literature and research concerning the preservation of these natural resources. Though I realize that this is hardly interesting for most people, I cannot express how important it is for us to be conscious of the ecosystems in which we exist. I have noticed that the average Chilean lacks a great deal in their understanding of protection and conservation. 

Chile is a country torn between two worlds. On one side, Chile is the only country in Latin America to have a Ritz Carlton hotel, and will soon host a W hotel. Though this seems inconsequential, take into account that the various other Spanish-speaking nations in Central and South America don't have them. Chile also has more car brands than any other country, with the majority of these extra brands being luxury names. Within a ten-minute-walk radius of my apartment, there are three Starbucks'. In this way, Chile is very much emulating an American style of life and culture. However, on the other hand Chile has a large working and lower class that struggles to make ends meet. Here's an excerpt from a recent article in the Latin American Herald Tribune, an English newspaper dealing with a variety of Latin American issues:

"...The study found that the top 20 percent of Chile’s 17 million people receives upwards of 13 times more in income than the bottom fifth. Chile’s economy is also characterized by high unemployment and a proliferation of hiring on short-term contracts that further undermines job security, the ECLAC document says."

You might be asking what all this has to do with the environment. My answer is everything. I believe that many Chileans and Chilean policies are ignorant of conservation issues because the general view is to bring about economic improvement and advancement at the expense of anything else. The same can be said for Chile's energy policies; the HydroAysen project to build new dams in the South will have long-lasting and irreversible side effects on that ecosystem. Many support the project saying that the most important thing is for Chile to become independent in supplying its own energy; these people either do not care about the environment or simply are ignorant of those  effects. 

Here is an excellent article describing the salmon farming industry's effect on the southern lakes in Chile. Chile is one of the worlds largest producers of farm-raised salmon, and because of this, that industry has a great amount of power here among the citizens and the government. This is a perfect example of economic motives curtailing conservation efforts.

Now, why am I ranting on and on about this. Today I read an article detailing how various species throughout Chile are suffering (read it here). I was most impacted by the last part of the article discussing the status of Flamingo's in the Atacama Salt Flats. The article details how over 2,000 chicks died in their shells after their parents could not stay there for lack of food due to an unnaturally hot summer. This is a high number considering that there are only about 40,000 Andean flamingos living in the wild today.

In any case, I thought that as I am coming to the end of my stay here I might try and communicate a little of what I have learned during my time here. If you have been following my blog, you now have a proper frame of reference with which to read these articles and understand these issues. I hope you find this information interesting and that it might make you think about the world you live in. It is important that we take nothing for granted and that we continue to spread the word about these types of issues.