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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE July 12, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| December 14, 2004 |
Friends of the Earth International Latin American Youth – Environmental awareness in Latin America |
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| A double rainbow in the Patagonian fjords |
Between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso, six members of Friends of the Earth from Uruguay, Argentina and Chile joined Peace Boat to carry out discussions and to increase awareness about environmental issues in South America. Peace Boat offers this leadership training programme to active youth in Latin America, not only to help them prepare for events such as WSF (World Social Forum) but also to give them the opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions face to face with people from other countries. Working in collaboration with the onboard ‘eco-team’, their presentations were not only enjoyable, interactive and informative but they also made people question the environmental policies of their own countries and they themselves, learned a great deal in the process. |
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| Marina Artigas |
Uruguay – A revolutionary referendum
Marina Artigas is a physical education instructor and Lucia Surroca a university history student. Both are from Uruguay and are members of the NGO REDES, the Friends of the Earth chapter organization. They came onboard Peace Boat to talk about the privatization of water and the effects that globalization is having on the natural resources in Latin America. They explained that during Uruguay’s dictatorship, millions of dollars were borrowed from World Bank and IMF. The debt became so great that it is not only extremely difficult to rebuild the national economy and pay off this debt, but it has been a real challenge to protect the country from foreign investment and exploitation. However in October of this year a revolutionary bill was passed in Uruguay to ban the privatization of water in their country. |
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| Marina Artigas and Lucia Surroca filming a Spanish skit |
47 percent of the world’s fresh ground water supply is in Latin America, whose main source stretches over an area of 119 thousand square kilometers in Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. This is the third largest aquifer in the world, thus making it extremely attractive for foreign investment. Marina and Lucia explained that an international fight for water will replace the current global dispute over oil in years to come and that water will be in danger of commercialization. The privatization of water will mean that one of the most important natural resources in the world would only be accessible to those who could afford it and research predicts that by the year 2025, 3.5 million people would lose access to drinking water. |
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| A snow capped peak of Patagonia |
Uruguay learned this lesson the hard way. From 1998 to 2004 a Spanish company took control of Montevideo’s water supply and the original cost of water increased by ten times. Water became a commercial venture as opposed to a commodity. Furthermore this company didn’t comply with their environmental policies, and when their pipes burst, they contaminated large quantities of water in the surrounding areas. It was this situation, along with pressure from local environmentalists, which enabled Uruguay to set a precedent for other Latin American countries by banning international investment in local water sources. |
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| The flood in Santa Fe |
Argentina – The biggest natural man-made catastrophe
Federico Gonzalez and Natalia Salvatico both work at Friends of the Earth in Argentina. In 2003, 200,000 people had to evacuate from the city of Santa Fe due to the biggest flood in Argentina’s history. Unfortunately, Federico stated, this disaster was ‘not caused by nature but rather people and their disrespect for the environment’. Santa Fe’s river first flooded in 1903 but then remained intact for 80 years until its banks burst again. However since 1983 there have been three more floods, the last one resulting in death, homelessness and disease. |
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| Fedrico Gonzalez and Natalia Salvatico |
Federico and Natalia showed video coverage of the flood, the rescue operation and the aftermath and then went onto explain the reasons for this disaster. Argentina exports vast quantities of soya beans to countries such as Japan. This means harvesting the soya bean forests on the banks of the river erodes the soil and with no roots to absorb rainfall, the rainwater pours directly into the river. Deforestation therefore, as also seen in China, causes flooding. Global warming is another cause: it melts the polar ice-caps and increases the level of the sea, which in turn filters into the rivers and raises their water level. The last reason given for this flood is governmental corruption and lack of sufficient planning to prevent floods from recurring.
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| Patagonian river |
Federico commented on how emotional this time was for him and his family. He was personally part of the rescue operation team and we saw images of the flood’s aftermath: children starving from malnutrition on the streets, houses destroyed, dead bodies floating from a nearby cemetery, human and chemical waste drifting in the water and over 5,000 businesses were wiped out. Refugee camps were put into place and people began to guard what possessions they had left with firearms. It is estimated that it will cost 10 million dollars to rebuild the river bank and to undo the damage caused by this environmental degredation. |
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| The eco team show the diversity of Chilean landscape |
Chile – Save Patagonia’s ice fields
Flavia Henriquez is a theatrical performer and Christian Villalobos is an environmental biologist, both members of CODEFF (the Chilean representative of Friends of the Earth). They began their presentation with an interactive description of the diversity of the Chilean eco-system, once cited as being the most environmentally diverse country in the world. Chile is 4,300 kilometers long and ranges from the dry heat of the Atakoma desert in the north to the fjords and glaciers of Tierra del Fuego in the south. In between the country boasts a Mediterranean-like climate of lakes, forests and grape farms. However it is the deterioration of the southern area of Patagonia that was the main focus of their presentation and concern |
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| Christian Villalobos and Flavia Henriquez |
The world-wide use of greenhouse gases and CO2s has caused the global mean temperature to rise by 3.6 percent over the past few years. In the last ten years the amount of ice that has deteriorated from the glaciers due to global warming has tripled, causing sea levels to rise, which in turn increases flooding across the globe. The rate at which the Patagonian ice caps are melting is three times faster than the glaciers in Alaska because of the effects of global climate change and the way that they are formed. Patagonia houses some of the purest water sources on the globe and is responsible for nine percent of the world’s water contributions and so Flavia and Christian underpinned their presentation with a strong message that it is our individual responsibilities to contribute to a healthier environment. |
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| Birds of peace mural on a wall in Ushuaia |
While onboard Christian and Flavia talked about the Chilean Social Forum which took place from 19th to 21st November in Santiago de Chile to oppose the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and George Bush’s presence in their country the same day. More than 200 organizations came together to create a space for civil society movements to get together to democratically debate ideas for the Chile that they want to have for the future. CODEFF took part in this exchange of experiences and explained that the event was an opportunity to build a network of NGOs and other parts of society who are opposed to neo-liberalism and capitalism. Creating ‘globalization’ which supports human rights, democracy, social justice, equality and ownership by the people is not just an ideology. |
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| The Eco Team with the six FoEI Latin American Youth |
As part of CODEFF’s campaign to make Patagonia a world heritage site, Flavia and Christian presented the case for preserving the natural beauty and resources that Patagonia has to offer. Together with Peace Boat’s onboard ‘eco team’, they gave a puppet show performance and presented a slide show during their visit to Valparaiso to raise awareness and support on this issue. They managed to get 500 more signatures for their campaign to present to UNESCO and they remain optimistic that in making Chilean Patagonia a world heritage site it will be protected from multinational investors. The six Latin American environmental representatives brought interest and insight onboard Peace Boat and their enthusiasm for campaigning to save our eco system was an inspiration to all, especially the eco-team. |
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