{"id":10162,"date":"2019-02-26T17:44:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T16:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catapa.be\/?p=10162"},"modified":"2019-03-05T19:06:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T18:06:19","slug":"no-alto-maipo-chiles-continued-struggle-against-the-mining-industry-for-the-right-to-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catapa.be\/en\/no-alto-maipo-chiles-continued-struggle-against-the-mining-industry-for-the-right-to-water\/","title":{"rendered":"No Alto Maipo: Chile\u2019s continued struggle against the mining industry for the right to water."},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”No Alto Maipo: Chile\u2019s continued struggle against the mining industry for the right to water.” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Quicksand%3A300%2Cregular%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]Emily Humphreys, 13 February 2019<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Chile is recognised as the poster-child of neoliberalism, with a strong mandate of privatisation on any capital-rich resource. A clear example of this mandate can be seen in extractivist projects, particularly mining and hydroelectric projects. As Chile\u2019s economy grows, thanks to a global addiction to raw minerals, a sinister struggle \u00a0underlies the country\u2019s giant mining industry: water rights. And no, such rights are not found to trickle down from the private mining firms to the nation\u2019s discriminated citizens. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The Maipo River Basin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Santiago de Chile, home to 7 million people, is a sprawling metropolitan jungle gripped to the roots of the Andes mountains. The Andes give the city not only a backdrop of formidable beautiful, they are also the source of the country\u2019s most important water source: the Maipo river. The Maipo river basin runs 60km south of Santiago\u2019s metropolitan region, supplying 90% of the city\u2019s urban and residential water as well as 70% of total irrigation water <\/span>(Baeur, 2016).<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The significance of the river basin, also considered Santiago\u2019s \u2018green lung\u2019, in providing life to the city and surrounding territories is undeniable, and its place in sustaining future generations translates its existence into a human and environmental right. Nevertheless, the Maipo river basin has become victim to an activity that threatens the supply of water to the citizens of the greater metropolitan region, one whose objective is to provide energy for Chile\u2019s most lucrative industry: mining. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Copper: red gold<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copper mining is one of Chile\u2019s most important economic activities, with 29% of global stock found in the country. Chile prides itself in being the number one producer of the red metal, for obvious reasons: Copper, and other precious metals, have made Chile the <\/span>wealthiest country in Latin America<\/span><\/a> (in economic terms). In short, copper is a resource which has infiltrated into the national fibre of Chile and the result is a heavily politicised and exploitative extractive industry. Mining is championed as the <\/span>most attractive model for economic development<\/span><\/a> and prosperity in Chile, and indeed, it can be argued that this economic model has given citizens a quality of life much sought after by neighbouring nations. But, this economic and material wealth has come at an alarming social and environmental cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Alto Maipo: an unnecessary project<\/strong><\/p>\n

50km southeast of Santiago, in the Cajon del Maipo region, the <\/span>Alto Maipo Hydropower Project (PHAM) has become one of the biggest environmental struggles in the country\u2019s history. <\/span>The health of the Maipo river basin is under direct threat from two large-scale <\/span>run of the river (ROR) hydroelectric projects<\/span><\/a> which use the natural flow of a river to generate energy, avoiding the construction of a dam. With well-known tragedies of collapsing Dams, particularly jarring being the recent collapse of Brumadinho tailings dam in Brazil, a decision to avoid constructing a Dam may appear positive. The opposite is true. <\/span><\/p>\n

Beginning in 2007, the Alto Maipo project has re-routed 100km of the Maipo river, bringing the flow of the river underground into artificial tunnels. The project, <\/span>68% complete<\/span><\/a>, threatens environmental and social devastation for the citizens and ecological life of Cajon del Maipo depending on the rivers as a source of water. Further<\/span> controversy underlying Alto Maipo is its proposed utility. Initially promoted as a public good to generate clean electricity and drive down energy costs, the majority of the generated energy will be supplied to Los Pelambres copper mine, the 5th largest in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chilean mining subsidiary of U.S. company <\/span>AES Gener,<\/b> owner of Alto Maipo, won funding for the hydroelectric project from international development banks such as The World Bank\u2019s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The project was proposed as a clean source of energy with minimal environmental impact. <\/span>This claim contrasts starkly with <\/span>facts<\/span><\/a> outlined by the Centre for International Environmental Law: <\/span><\/p>\n