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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE May 9, 2006
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| April 15, 2005 |
Valparaiso Peace Action – PB supports the actions of Chilean civil society against the Pascua Lama Project |
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About 500 people, including 70 from Peace Boat, gathered in front of the Chilean Congress in Valparaiso to protest against the approval of a gold mining project in a delicate glacial reserve that will wreak long-lasting environmental damage. The protest was organized, among others, by the Chilean organization CODEFF, which also serves as the Chilean chapter of Friends of the Earth International. Peace Boat submitted a declaration in support of the action by CODEFF and Chilean civil society, expressing international support for principles of sustainability. |
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The project, known as “Pascua Lama,” is proposed by Canadian mining company Barrick Gold over the course of 20 years and total investment of USD $400 million, hoping to yield 17 million ounces of gold (currently gold trades for USD $428 per ounce) as a return on investment. Authorities argue that benefits include jobs for the region, 5500 for the first three years, reduced to a mere 1600 for the remaining 17 years of the project.
Yet the environmental and social impacts of the Pascua Lama project are staggering. First, in order to extract the gold, under one of the last pristine valleys in Chile, the Barrick Gold Company will dynamite through three glaciers which serve as the only water source in a desert region for farming and indigenous communities. This will be the first time in history such a method is used, an antecedent that could pave the way, environmentalist fear, to other similarly large and destructive projects. In Chile, glaciers, in spite of being vital ecosystems for the balance of the water-cycle, are not legally protected. |
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Second, the gold itself is highly mixed with other particles and requires a purification process that relies on massive use of cyanide and other deadly chemicals. Environmentalists predict permanent damage to the eco-system in the region from pollution by these chemicals and other by-products of the mining operations, particularly high-volume transport of toxic chemicals, explosives and industrial waste.
For more information, see Latin American Environmental Conflicts Observatory – www.olca.cl/oca/chile/pascualama.htm |
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Full text of the support declaration:
“As members of the Japan based civil society group Peace Boat, we support the actions of Chilean civil society and its demand for the Chilean government to reconsider its position about the Pascua Lama project, bringing it to an immediate end.
Committed to building fair and sustainable societies around the world, we believe that projects such as Pascua Lama have enormous negative impacts both on the environment and society. It will entail not only the pollution of some of the most pristine water resources of the world, the poisoning of the earth and the destruction of glaciers, but also it will bring about irreversible damage to the local indigenous communities, Diaguita people. Even the expected outcomes in terms of job creation are minor and short termed, and the real economic benefits will not be passed on to the people but will go directly to the private foreign investor and its stockholders, leaving waste, disease and poverty for the future generations.
Sustainability is a common mission for all, whatever our nationality, and it implies the common search for new ways of production and consumption, based on peoples’ real needs and not in a “gold-rush” greed.”
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