Worlds in Movement, Living Without Dams

Communities Building Alternatives to Large-Scale Projects

A Verdeseo Publication the destruction of part of their land, they have investment projects, many people keep fighting managed to approve a new law, the Finnmark to defend their territories from huge mining A Patagonia Without Dams is Law. This law, which took many years of struggle, projects. In La Guajira, where a mining project established a new and unprecedented way to was already showing disastrous consequences, administrate land and natural resources, a way the community successfully resisted the Possible that mixes and combines different cosmovisions expansion of El Cerrejón, the biggest opencast and legal systems, tthat of the Norwegian state carbon mine in the world. By Colombina Schaeffer and that of the customary law of indigenous communities. At the same time, in the Santurbán Páramo, a group of environmental movements managed From the opposite hemisphere, the story of the to advance a very successful campaign against inhabitants from Tasmania, an Australian island the Angostura mining project by uniting many Verdeseo has participated in the Patagonia a long campaign against damming Chilean located at a similar latitude than the Patagons, heterogenous actors such as labor unions, Without Dams campaign from its beginnings. Patagonia, whereas there are many people in tells us how, in a campaign very similar to the professional and commercial associations, as In 2011 we published two special issues which Aysén who, day by day, from the most varied Patagonia Without Dams, local communities well as key public bodies and officials at the local summarised the main arguments against organisations and in different ways, work to managed, against all odds, to block the and national level. Today, the Santurbán Páramo damming Patagonia´s rivers, and in which we protect their territory and show Chile and the construction of a dam on the Franklin River. is a natural reserve and the slogan “agua sí, oro reflected on alternatives to the dams. Time world that another world is possible. They try They had lost other battles, but the constant no” (“yes to water, no to gold”) resonates from has passed and the campaign and movement to show that there are alternatives; not only to work of communities and the intelligent and Colombia to Patagonia. continue. This has meant that time has been HidroAysen, but also to the way we decide to live politically oriented actions allowed them not won, whereas the dams have not started to be together, a way that understands development only to stop the dams, but to constitute a new In Chile, further south in Magallanes, there built yet, although the project has all the permits as something different than GDP´s growth, as political referent, the Australian Green Party. A are the voices of those who in the 1990s fought to proceed. The Patagonia Without Dams something different than more consumption; as new way of doing politics was born. Today, in against Trillium Corporation. They managed, campaign and movement now resonates among an alternative way to relate with the nonhuman Australia, power is not divided in two (left and against all expectations, to protect native forests. millions of Chileans and people around the world. Furthermore, in Aysén people know right); there is a third and alternative force, one Today, instead of devastated native forests we world. Today –and those that govern in Chile about organising and acting together. They have that has led to important achievements for the have the Karukinka Natural Park, home of lenga know it and thus fear to make decisions that done it to oppose the damming of their rivers, Australian nations. and coigüe, which also houses precious fauna would allow the project to proceed– HidroAysen and they did it in February 2012 in what was and micro bio-systems: peat bogs, fungus, moss is not only a bad project in technical terms. It is known as the Aysén Social Movement. In a third story, the voices of Thai people join and lichens. In this way, the rich environmental a project that would also entail, in the long run, the stories of the Sami and Tasmanians. In an heritage of Patagons and Chileans is preserved. an unsustainable future for Chile in terms of In this special issue, we want to tell stories; exercise similar to the Patagon one, Thai people energy provision. On top of that, it has turned to stories that relate to those powerful Patagons managed to stop the construction of a coal-fired This special issue was born after spending time be politically, socially and financially unfeasible; in their struggle to make Aysén a better place. power plant near the village of Bo Nok and also talking and sharing with Patagons, after having while the government does not want to pay Stories from others, who, like them, have to redefine, open up and politicise the discussion had the wonderful opportunity to share with the political cost of proceeding with it, people resisted, sometimes paying huge costs, but about energy policy. Nevertheless, this victory those that inhabit those amazing lands. It aims in Chile don´t want it, and it has become very prevailing. Some took years to see the fruits of came at a price: the leader of the movement to highlight and present the voices of all those expensive. their efforts, others took less, but all decided was murdered. "One has died, but hundreds of who, like them, have not stopped working and that there was no alternative than to continue thousands will be born; only the body has been believing that things can be different. People in Still, the lobby to proceed with the HidroAysen to create and innovate, to do and undo, in order killed, the spirit and ideals remain”, resonates Patagonia are not alone. Voices and experiences project does not stop. Authorities and to make the land upon which they live a better from Bo Nok, in Thailand. from all over the world accompany them, just parliamentarians have been urged to approve place. like the Patagonian struggle accompanies crucial bills that would make the project feasible We also get stories from Latin America. From millions who still believe that it is possible to (particularly in terms of its 2.000 Kms long In Norway, the story of the Sami people in the Colombia, where extractivism has also started make a difference. transmission line). In this sense, there have Northern part of this country shows that despite to invade Colombian territories, and where each also been important costs of sustaining such having lost the battle against a dam, which caused time more communities are threatened by large

2 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 3 COLOMBINA SCHAEFFER About the authors Colombina Schaeffer holds a BA in Sociology and is completing her doctorate in Political Science at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is director of Verdeseo, an organisation that reflects on and promotes green political thinking for Chile and the world. Her interests include political ecology, social movements and Latin America.

MARTÍN ARBOLEDA MATTIJS SMITS

Martín Arboleda is completing his doctorate in Political Science at the University of Manchester, Mattijs Smits has recently submitted his PhD thesis in Human Geography at The University of United Kingdom. His interests include contentious politics, political ecology, social networks and Sydney, Australia, entitled “Electricity, modernity and sustainability: A critical scalar analysis of critical sociospatial theory. energy transitions in Thailand and Laos”. He has been working on energy, rural development and social change in Southeast Asia since 2007, both academically and professionally. RODRIGO BURGOS LEONARDO VALENZUELA Rodrigo Burgos, architect from the University of Santiago de Chile, has developed his career in architecture offices in Spain and Belgium. He has focused on sustainable construction and materials, Leonardo Valenzuela is completing his doctorate in Geography at the University of Sydney, Australia. the passive house concept, and the incorporation of sustainable forms of energy. Drawing and His interests include political ecology, the history of sciences and technologies, theories of the body cartoons have always been his hobbies and an important part of his life. and pollution, and the crossroads of industrialisation and environmental degradation in Chile.

HERNÁN DINAMARCA

Hernán Dinamarca, PhD in communication. Author. Works on communication and sustainability. Lives in Heidelberg and gives conferences and lectures in European universities. Ashoka Fellow. www.hernandinamarca.cl

STEWART JACKSON

Stewart Jackson is a lecturer at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on the development of political party organisations, and especially the transition from social movement to political party. He has also been an active participant (and organiser) of community and political campaigns around environmental and social issues in Australia for over 20 years.

ALEJANDRA MANCILLA

Alejandra Mancilla is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN), University of Oslo. Journalist and philosopher, her current research project focuses on the normative grounds of claims over land and natural resources. Her interests include global justice theories, animal rights and environmental ethics. In her blog, El ojo parcial, she writes about politics and environment in Chile and the world.

4 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 5 The Finnmark Act, Patagonia Without Dams and the Redemocratization of Natural Resources

By Alejandra Mancilla

Finnmark is the name of a region in the the political status and powers of the Finnmark northernmost part of Norway that occupies Sami experienced a real breakthrough. So, what an area equivalent to the size of Denmark (or, is the Finnmark Act, how did it come about, and to bring it closer to the Chilean context, to the how is it related to a Patagonia without dams? regions of Los Lagos or Tarapacá). It is a place of extremes, where the sun shines all day during Arguably the first of its kind in the world, the the summer and disappears in the middle of Finnmark Act transferred 95 per cent of the area winter, from November to January. It is the home of the Finnmark county from the Norwegian state of 200,000 reindeer, a few surviving wolves and to its inhabitants, which are represented by the the aurora borealis –a magic celestial show that Finnmark Estate Agency. In charge of managing attracts thousands of tourists every year. It is the use of land and water resources, this agency At the beginning of the 1980s, the Alta dam was built in Finnmark despite the opposition of the local Sami. also the place where the indigenous Sami have is composed of a board of six members, three lived for thousands of years as nomadic reindeer appointed by the Sami Parliament, and the and immemorial usage”, and let themselves be movement was triggered by what is known as shepherds, fishermen and hunters. There are other three by the Finnmark County Council transformed by it –regardless whether they are the Alta Dam controversy in the late 1970s. 40,000 Sami in total across Norway and around (where both Sami and non-Sami inhabitants are indigenous or not. To be sure, compromises Back then, the Sami joined environmentalists to half of them live in Finnmark, where they represented). The leader of the board is elected had to be made in the elaboration of this law. fight against the construction of a hydroelectric represent a fourth of the population. alternately by the two bodies. Two controversial points are that the Act only dam in the Alta river, in Finnmark. The initial covers renewable resources—leaving out oil and plan was opposed because it would flood a Although there are also Sami in Sweden, Finland This arrangement is unique, it proposes a new minerals—and that it excludes fishing rights in small town and disrupt reindeer herding and and Russia, the Norwegian Sami are probably the path for the administration of land and natural the sea, seemingly a concession to the powerful wild salmon fishing in the area. After years of best known given the special relationship that resources within nation-states, opening a third fishing industry. However, these points are still filling injunctions, organizing protests, starting they have managed to forge with the Norwegian category between the public and the private; being discussed and they may change in the hunger strikes and engaging in acts of civil state and its people. Although a consultive body namely, the locally controlled. Although inspired future. disobedience (by chaining themselves in front without legislative powers, the establishment to a great extent by the need to recognize the of the construction site), the opponents lost the of the Sami Parliament in 1987 gave them an traditional economic activities of the Sami and How did the Finnmark Act come to be? My battle when in 1982 the Supreme Court ruled in opportunity to make their claims heard in their ways of land tenure (where individual favorite interpretation is to see it as the final favor of the government and the dam was finally the political arena, after decades of relative private ownership is out of the conceptual and unexpected outcome of a long movement built. neglect. Furthermore, their recognition in the map), the Finnmark Act has to be seen above of upheaval and fight for Sami rights and, more Norwegian Constitution in 1988 was a step all as an original legal instrument. It has given profoundly, for the right of the local people to However, what looked like a failure at first was toward the survival of their culture, language special weight to claims over land and natural have actual control—and not merely a say— a stepping-stone in the unification of the Sami and customs. Nonetheless, it was through the resources to those who have transformed their over the decisions that affect them directly. This fighting for their rights, putting their interests ratification of the Finnmark Act in 2005 when environment through “established custom

6 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 7 on the political agenda. It also made the Lama gold mine was approved despite the Norwegian government and its people open to threat of water shortage and pollution for the the possibility that different conceptions of land, local farmers living down the semi-arid Huasco territory and ownership may coexist within a valley. And in 2011, the construction of the country, even if this requires compromises on HidroAysen dams was approved, generating both sides and a special disposition for dialogue. massive protests in the region and all along the country. It remains to be seen what will happen Now, what does this have to do with the with the second part of the project (i.e. the 2,000 current opposition to the HidroAysen project Kms transmission line). in Chilean Patagonia and, more generally, with the opposition to the standard modus operandi Given the global pressure over ever-scarcer followed by the Chilean state when evaluating natural resources, decisions about how to megaprojects of this kind? More than meets the administer them will become increasingly eye. contested. Especially in resource-rich countries like Norway and Chile, this should lead to Those familiar with Chile's most heated the decentralization of the decision-making environmental controversies will surely point processes and to their real democratization, out that the Pehuenche opposition to the Ralco with other than the usual suspects taking part. megadam (owned by Endesa, one of the two In this sense, while the practical effects of a companies behind HidroAysen) is comparable landmark experience like the Finnmark Act are to the Alta case. This hydroelectric project was still to be seen, the example it sets—by giving approved in 1998, after years of opposition from the locals a greater power in the decisions that environmentalists and indigenous inhabitants concern them—will hopefully inspire those of the Alto Bio-Bio. It forced the displacement who oppose turning the South of Chile (that is, of a whole community and flooded one of the Patagonia) into the powerhouse for the North most biodiverse hotspots of the country. To add (that is, the mining industry). insult to injury, a Pehuenche Museum was later built in the vicinity, turning the living culture Institutional structures and decision-making that had been just drowned into a historical processes may take years, even decades, to be item. changed. Important recent signs —like the Ministry of Environment and the Environmental The Ralco controversy clearly helped both Tribunals, the rejection by the Supreme Court environmentalist and indigenous groups to of a massive power plant in the Northern organize, raise a common voice and gain the coast of Chile, and the growing awareness and attention of the media. But it did not immediately activism of the public on this topics— should shake the centralized and top-down methods give us hope that a Patagonia Without Dams is a of the Chilean state when it comes to the realizable future. development of megaprojects that threaten to have profound short and long-term effects on the local population and their environment. Using the same approach, in 1998, the Celco pulp plant was approved in Valdivia, despite the opposition of the local community, causing the death of more than 2,000 black-necked swans in a nearby nature sanctuary. In 2006, the Pascua

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Reindeer herding is one of the main economic activities of the nomadic Sami, who live in the northern area of Norway called Finnmark. community campaign developed, the plans of relevant World Heritage paperwork, and the the government to build the dams remained. good fortune of a passing staffer noting the Beating Down a Dam: The Against community organisation and resistance, signed paperwork on the desk and immediately the Tasmanian state government proceeded with despatching it to the national Government, the construction of the dam2. This culminated political wheels were already turning. The Franklin River Blockade in the Franklin River Blockade, an attempt to ‘ground game’ of convincing the Tasmanian and physically stop the building of the dam wall. Australian public that this was an important By Stewart Jackson battle was taking shape. A state poll during the The campaign and blockade themselves were lead up to the blockade elected Norm Sanders, well planned, although actions could have former director of TWS, to the state Parliament become chaotic. The small group of campaigners and he carried a vociferous campaign against from The Wilderness Society (TWS) intended the newly elected conservative Government. The Franklin River Blockade remains a watershed for the party was Bob Brown, soon to enter first to provide a well-publicised attempt to stop the When Sanders finally resigned in disgust at the in Australian environmental history as much for the Tasmanian State Parliament and later the work on the dam (even though the work might activities of the state Government, his place the community campaign as for the winning of a Australian Parliament, eventually to become have ultimately gone ahead). TWS was formed was taken by Bob Brown, who heard about his significant environmental campaign. Launched leader of the Australian Greens, and a global in 1976 with the aim of stopping the many HEC election while under arrest on the blockade in 1981, the blockade campaign slowed progress figure in environmental campaigning. plans for the region, and specifically to save frontlines! on the building of the dam project, while further the Franklin River. The blockade was planned political campaigns were successful in ultimately The Franklin River itself is a major tributary of and executed as best the campaigners could The looming 1983 Australian federal election, to stopping the project and saving the river and the Gordon River. It is an area of unparalleled hope for, with some able and very welcome be fought between a conservative Government surrounding areas from damming, mining and beauty and holds evidence of some of the assistance from local community members. and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) logging. While the Franklin River Blockade was earliest occupation by Australia's indigenous What was also expected was the strident opposition3, provided a clear opportunity for not the first successful environmental campaign people, dating back 35,000 BC. Since the opposition to the blockade from proponents campaigners to win over mainland politicians. 1 in Australia , the importance and novelty of the 19th century, the region has been the focus of the dam —the HEC, the unions covering The relationship between the campaigners Franklin River Blockade was the building of a of mining and forestry activities, and since the construction workers, and sections of the and the ALP was important as without the campaign that brought people together from the mid-20th century, of hydroelectric dams. communities who lived closest to the proposed politicians the campaign potentially would not across Australia to campaign for the preservation Beginning in the 1960s, the Tasmanian Hydro dam— all of whom stood to profit from the dam have been won, while the campaign equally of the South West region of Tasmania. The Electricity Commission (HEC) began planning being built. What was not expected was the allowed the ALP to paint itself as a pro- blockade showed that an effective community a series of dams to provide additional energy support for the blockade from both the broader environment party nationally. The principal campaign could ultimately be won, even with capacity, in anticipation of the state's expected Tasmanian and Australian communities, and mechanisms used by dam campaigners were losses along the way, bringing on-side both the development needs. By the 1970s, development from significant international communities media and public events, to draw attention to general public and the politicians who together and energy demand had slowed, but the HEC and figures such as botanist David Bellamy. the proposed dam, complemented by bringing a could stop such projects. pushed on with the planning and building Expecting a couple of hundreds blockaders at number of the ALP politicians to show them the of dams, regardless of the actual demand for most, more than 2.600 eventually registered and area's beauty and importance4. The campaign in The environmental campaigns in Tasmania more electricity. The Tasmanian community were active in the actual blockade. During the the major cities provided an important chance during this period had a direct influence on also increasingly opposed the construction many confrontations between the police, HEC to reach a majority of Australians to try and state and eventually Australian federal politics. of dams. This process culminated in 1972-73 workers and blockaders more than 1,260 people convince them that the whole project was a One of the world’s first Green Parties, the United with the campaign around the Lake Pedder were arrested. disaster for the Tasmanian community, and Tasmania Group (a forerunner of the Tasmanian Dam, on the upper reaches of the Gordon would destroy a place that should be important Greens) was formed around saving Lake Pedder River. However, despite appeals to the federal Outside of the direct blockade, a political 3 Australia has two major parties, the conservative Liberal in 1973. The United Tasmania Group re- government to intervene, the dam was built and campaign took shape. Through the goodwill emerged in the 1982 state election to support the the existing Lake Pedder was flooded. Further Party and the social-democratic Australian Labor Party, of the outgoing Tasmanian Premier (ousted as well as a number of smaller parties. Franklin River campaign. The leading candidate proposals were now pushed forward, including in a sudden leadership spill) who signed the 4 An example of this work can be seen in the photographs 1 The creation of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in a proposal to dam the Franklin River, a lower of Peter Dombovskis, some of the most iconic images of 1975 also came after many years of campaigning by local tributary of the Gordon. Although a significant 2 Australia has a federal system of government, with state the Tasmanian wilderness images: http://nla.gov.au/nla. communities in Queensland. governments retaining extensive power over development. pic-vn4594512.

10 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 11 for all Australians.

The combined efforts of the campaigners Struggle, Tragedy, and convinced the ALP to support a halt to the dam project, and upon winning the elections they Unexpected Outcomes of the fulfilled that promise. However, without the community campaign and the Blockade itself, the dam project would have proceeded much Bo Nok Local Conservation faster, to the point of being near completion, and the opportunity to save the area would Movement in Thailand have been lost. The campaign also invigorated the Australian environmental movement, and By Mattijs Smits proved that effective community campaigning could win over an otherwise reluctant general public, and with that the politicians who would ultimately stop the project. The case I want to discuss took place in a simultaneously tried to gain the hearts and province targeted as a site for the development minds of the local people by providing their References of two coal-fired power stations back in 1995, side of the story, taking people on trips to Bob Brown, who was later to become the leader of the Australian Greens, as part of the energy reform programme in other power stations in Thailand and even to appears here in 1983 addressing the protesters during the Franklin River Buckman, G. (2008). Tasmania’s wilderness Thailand towards increased privatisation the United States, and by promising a sizeable Blockade. 1 battles. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. through Independent Power Producers . share of the future revenues for community Specifically, I will write about the locality of development projects. Green, R. (ed). (1981/4). Battle for the Franklin: Bo Nok, where a 1.400 MW power station was conversations with the combatants in the struggle set to be built. The area is close to the sea and The conflict went on for about seven years, and for South West Tasmania. Sydney: Fontana and rich in agricultural land and fishing spots. The split the community in two: those in support the Australian Conservation Foundation. people are ethnically Thai and are on average and those opposed to the power plants. While neither poor nor very rich. As soon as the plans national and local politicians and leaders The Blockaders (1983). The Franklin Blockade. were released, some local people, led by a group supported the former group, the latter had the Hobart: The Wilderness Society. of teachers, started questioning the potential support from the majority of people in the area, impacts of the power plant, in particular related some leading critical academics and a number to their main sources of livelihood: fishing, of local and international NGOs. The strength farming, and (increasingly) tourism. They tried of the local conservation movement, however, to collect information related to the project, lied in their ability to keep the pressure on the the investors, the decision-making process and company. In Bo Nok alone, 94 letters were sent, the Environmental Impact Assessment. They 28 protest rallies organised, and five negotiation also tried to mobilise their fellow community processes were entered into2. Additional members through community radio, meetings, seminars, rallies, letters, and negotiations rallies and other means. All this was not easy, were organised in cooperation with the other because the company behind the power plant movement in the province, who were also 1 This was part of a second phase of IPP proposals, which 2 Data from “Kuze, 2003; Multi-Organizational involved both domestic and international companies and finance. Three projects were approved in the first phase Field in Social Movements: A Comparison (1996-2000), 4 in the second phase (2000-2004), and Between Two Anti-Power Plant Movement another 4 in 2008. The capacity of the projects ranges Organizations in The Southern Thai Province”. from 350 to 1.600 MW each. Occasional Paper No. 11. Tokyo: Centre for Asian Area Studies, Rikkyo University Press.

12 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 13 environmental activism in Thailand, with strong were acting to protect their livelihoods and have from time to time. These lessons also link local, national and international networks rights to participate in decision-making. These the struggles in Bo Nok to those in Patagonia. with NGOs and academics. Moreover, many are the most important lessons I take from this Despite the distances and differences, people in policy makers recognise that the top-down case; lessons that may help overcome any feelings both places are fighting similar forces and using development model of the past, with negligible of despair people struggling against large-scale similar strategies to achieve the common goal of participation, no longer works in Thailand. The infrastructural projects might (understandably) social and environmental justice. movement was also successful in challenging some of the underlying assumptions and directions of Thai energy policy, such as the reliance on centralised power generation and the need to maintain a 25% reserve margin3. Paintings of murdered leader of the Bo Nok local conservation group, Char- Thailand now boosts one of the most successful oen Wataksorn, in one of the Buddhist temples in Bo Nok. renewable and decentralised electricity struggling against a coal-fired power plant. generation programmes in Southeast Asia. The movement also increasingly captured the attention of the national and even international Other influences of the Bo Nok movement media, in particular after blocking the main are the increasing experimentation with highway going through the province. alternative energy production models, ranging from community owned wind turbines (now In 2002, the government succumbed to the symbolically powering their community radio), pressure and decided to ‘postpone’ and eventually to private-owned solar farms, all as a result of abandon the project altogether. It was an the struggle against the coal-fired power plant. unprecedented achievement in Thailand, which Most importantly, perhaps, it has opened up and has a long history of top-down development politicised the discussion about energy policy, projects, more often than not under military which was previously seen as a closed and purely governments. The victory also came at a price. technocratic process. The Bo Nok movement In June 2004, after testifying in a court case on showed that it is not. Energy production and land grabbing associated with the power plant consumption are embedded in social relations project, the leader of Bo Nok’s local conservation and decisions should therefore be part of an group, Charoen Wataksorn, was shot dead near open political decision-making process. his house. While this was an immense human tragedy, it also sparked new determination of To be sure, the local movement in Bo Nok the people in Bo Nok and other parts of the has not single-handedly solved all energy- province to continue their activities and help related issues in Thailand. The case does show, out other communities. As one t-shirt print however, that it is possible to resist socially and read: "One has died, but hundreds of thousands environmentally destructive projects through will be born; only the body has been killed, the sheer persistence, clever networking, and spirit and ideals remain; hundreds of thousands community engagement. It also demonstrates of Charoens will be born across Thailand". that some of the influences described above, such as those on energy policy, were never Looking back at the movement now, more than anticipated by the local community when they 10 years later, it is clear that it was much more 3 Reserve margin is a measure of available capacity than a local movement against a specific coal- above the capacity needed to meet normal peak demand fired power plant. The conflict has transformed levels. Generally, this is between 10-20%. http://www. the province into one of the hubs of social and energyvortex.com/energydictionary/reserve_margin__ reserve_capacity.html.

14 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 15 A rally in 2007 in Bo Nok to pay homage to the murdered leader of the local conservation group, Charoen Wataksom, whose image appears in the statue in the background. project required to use 1.200 tons of cyanide Social Power and and 7.000 tons of explosives on a monthly basis, which would not only destroy Santurbán’s rich Environmental Justice ecosystems but would also contaminate the water consumed by millions.

in Colombia’s Extractive Between late 2010 and early 2011, a group of environmental movements managed to put Industries: The Cases of forward a very successful campaign against the Angostura project. The city of Bucaramanga became the setting of massive protests and Santurbán and El Cerrejón uprisings in which thousands rallied its streets on more than one occasion under the slogan By Martín Arboleda “agua sí, oro no” (“yes to water, no to gold”).

“Beneath the cobblestones, the beach” Subsequently, the Ministry of the Environment Slogan of the May 1968 social uprisings in France rejected, in May of 2011, the license requested by Greystar Resources Ltd. However, this was not enough to stop the company, which after changing its name to Eco-Oro Minerals, had In Colombia –just as in Chile– the number brought to a momentary halt. been reformulating the proposal in order to of mining and energy projects has increased resubmit an application for the license, this dramatically during the last decade as a Among the cases worth noting is the Angostura time offering to develop the Angostura project result of escalating commodity prices around Project in Santurbán, a vastly biodiverse as an underground mine. This would be almost the world, making the country an attractive moorland located in the northern part of the as problematic due to the negative effects it “Yes to water no to gold” was the slogan used by the protesters in Bucara- target for transnational corporations seeking Colombian Andean mountain ranges between would cause to underground water channels. manga against the mining project Angostura, from the Canadian transna- to carry out extractive activities and make the Santander and the Norte de Santander Therefore, a subsequent round of mobilization tional Greystar Resources. huge profits out of its natural resources. Also, regions (departamentos) of the country. With an and protest led the Colombian government to given the country’s lack of experience with extension of almost 83,000 hectares, Santurbán declare Santurbán a natural reserve on January the 1980s, El Cerrejón has left behind a trail large-scale mining and energy projects, its is home to 42 bird and 253 vegetable species 7th of 2013, protecting 11.700 hectares, where of widespread destruction, including among current regulatory frameworks are permissive as well as to 42 different ecosystems, including a substantial part of the Angostura project others, the displacement of 70.000 persons of and weak, therefore attracting corporations Andean and high-Andean forests. Moreover, its was supposed to be developed. Although civil the Wayúu indigenous people and the complete that are internationally renowned for their approximately 441 hectares of drainage basin society organizations and communities remain eviction and subsequent obliteration of a whole bad practices. The above, added to the fact provide water to nearly 10 million people in in a state of alert due to the obstinate and defiant village of 1.200 inhabitants. This, added to the that the current government has defined the 23 towns and cities. After more than 10 years stance of the transnational, which is not willing environmental degradation evidenced in the growth of the extractive industries as one of of preliminary explorations in Santurbán, the to give up the project, much has been gained so high levels of water, noise and air pollution, its five structural priority areas, has resulted in Canadian transnational Greystar Resources Ltd. far. make of this mine one of the crudest examples high negative externalities, especially in rural requested a mining license from the Colombian of how the so-called “commodity boom” has areas of the country. However, the opposition Government to develop the Angostura project, The second case concerns the project to actually become a curse for Latin American towards many of these mega-projects has which consisted on the construction and expand the mining operations in El Cerrejón, countries. increased to an unprecedented extent, and operation of a large-scale open-cast gold mine the largest open-cast coal mine in the world, thanks to the struggles of social movements with the potential to produce 7.7 million ounces which is located in the La Guajira department In 2011, the owners of the mine announced large mines and dams that threatened to of gold throughout an extended period of time. of Colombia, and is currently owned by UK- their intention to increase coal production from ravage fragile ecosystems and to displace local According to the assessment of environmental registered multinationals BHP Billiton, Anglo 32 to 40 million tons a year by 2015. In order communities have been either stopped or impacts carried out by the company itself, the American and Xstrata. Since its beginning in to do so, the companies needed to divert 26 km

16 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 17 of the 248 km long Ranchería River, a project What these cases intend to highlight is that the extractivist model to a certain extent, but that was naturally resisted by indigenous and In early November of 2012, and after an despite the fact that campaigning against mining they have also demonstrated to the whole local communities from its very beginning. In intensive year of mobilizations in which many and energy mega-projects is a very difficult task, region that another world is indeed possible. addition to being crucial to their livelihoods actors at the local, national and international civil society groups can really make a difference. Even in such a tortuous campaign as the one and cultural practices, the Ranchería River is level were involved, the companies decided to In a similar way to what has happened in against HidroAysen, Patagonia Without Dams also regarded as sacred by the Wayúu and other abort the project to divert the river, arguing that Chilean Patagonia, the communities in El has managed to inspire thousands both in Chile indigenous communities that live near the the 35% decrease in global coal prices made Cerrejón and Santurbán have suffered many and abroad. More than short-term instrumental riverbed. the investment required not feasible for the setbacks and hardships. However, with their achievements, this will set the stage for structural moment. tenacity and perseverance, they have not change in years to come. only managed to hold back the voracity of

18 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 19 TheThe Paramo Paramo de deSanturbán, Santurbán, a abio-diverse bio-diverse moorlandmoorland located located in in the the northern northern part part of ofColombia, Colombia, is threatened by a large mining project that has been resisted by localis threatened communities. by a large mining project that has been resisted by local communities. Forestal Trillium: Go home

By Hernán Dinamarca

In June 1994, the U.S timber company promised jobs were going to be too far from the Trillium announced its Río Condor project only city in the vicinity, Porvenir, which had after acquiring 256,416 hectares in Tierra del only 200 unemployed people anyway. Fuego. It bought this huge land tract from the Canadian company Cetec-Sel, which bought it Although the records of Trillium in the U.S did from the Chilean State in 1988 at only five USD not support their claim of being environmentally per hectare. It was the beginning of a long and sustainable, in Chile the company tried complex process of citizen movements, political to be serious, and even environmentalists and financial pressures, studies, authorisations, acknowledged this. According to Juan Manuel reclamations and environmental protection Draguicevic1, “the company asked a well-know suits, all in the context of the expansion of an group of scientists to study the area. But neither ecological consciousness at the national and that nor any other of their studies guaranteed planetary level, a process that would end up that the forests would regenerate”. in 2004 with the creation of a conservation Karukinka Natural Park, Chile, Tierra del Fuego. park: Karukinka. It was a relevant socio- Thus, and in the end, the project collapsed environmental conflict, one of those that make because it was not really sustainable. This was history. The relationship between the locals and recognized both by FIDE XII and the Group for a long process and that although technical the new elected democratic authorities was not national and international actors, and between the Defence of the Environment in Magallanes, reports of public services rejected the project, easy. In dictatorship, the foundation defended environmentalists and members of Congress, and by the national NGOs, Defenders of the it was authorised in a decision taken at the human rights and in democracy “we thought allowed to stop the exploitation, and also the Chilean Forest and the Institute of Political political level. This generated a rough political that preserving the environment was one of sustainability of these Southern forests. Ecology, as well as Congress members, who and legal dispute that led to the first suit the rights we had to defend. It was curious that acted transversally to the political tandem. presented by citizens within the framework some of the local authorities that supported the At the beginning, a group based in Punta Arenas Although there was tension between national of the Environment Act, and to successive project and were our detractors had worked or and spearheaded by FIDE XII (a foundation and local actors, and between the political and suits presented by lawyers Fernando Dougnac been benefited by us under the dictatorship. linked to the Catholic Church), raised the the environmental perspectives, all of them Rodríguez and Marcelo Castillo. Then, and when the project was approved with first cries of alarm through the “Campaign for promoted, between 1994 and 1998, all sorts of so many restrictions and conditions, many the Conservation of the Sub-Antarctic Native social and political actions, studies and research, In 1996, a report from CIPMA showed that which had not supported us asked: ‘Why was Forests of Magallanes”. Through pamphlets and which allowed the questioning of Trillium's “the number of additional conditions that the it not rejected if there are so many objections?’ meetings they informed the public about the Environmental Impact Statement (EIA). This company will have to meet [a result of legal The company said it was going to meet the Nothofagus family (mainly lenga and coigüe) affected the original project by delaying it. It and citizen action] is significative”, and asked, requirements but couldn't, because, and as and their associated endemic fauna and micro- also became more complex and expensive. presaging the future: “To what extent the number we said from the beginning, the project was systems. The company, as it is usually the case Eventually, it was evident that it had become of initiatives adopted by the company in its search economically unfeasible if it was to be executed for social and environmental sustainability will in an environmentally sustainable way”. in such situations, self-proclaimed itself as unfeasible. 2 environmentally sustainable and as a job creator affect its commercial profits?” . in Tierra del Fuego. However, environmentally, Nevertheless, it must be noted that this was While between 1997 and 1999 some work was the project invaded native forests, which were For the leaders of FIDE XII the relationship with carried out in the field, in 2001, and after the 1 This article owes much to Juan Manuel Draguicevic, first six years of organised opposition to the key for the biosphere. And socially, the 800 activist against Trillium, first as a professional 2 Source: http://www.cipma.cl/web/200.75.6.169/ and then as environmental director of FIDE XII. RAD/1996/4_Villarroel-Torres.pdf project (with delays, replanning and several

20 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 21 obstacles), Trillium (now under the name of Today, and according to Draguicevic, “Karukinka Salvia) reoriented it. It minimized the timber is more than what we imagined. It is a challenge A Political Expression for exploitation, added ecotourism and started to open new avenues so that Chileans and people to sell carbon offsets. In 2001 the project was from Magallanes know about the existence stopped amidst a deep financial crisis. of this natural park. Its study sheds light on the Experiences of Chilean Between 2002 and 2003, and unable to repay its climate change and its conservation guarantees creditors, Trillium gave up its land to Goldman the continuation of species still to be discovered. Territories Sachs. In those years, the bank directors were Our experience was intense, motivating, and a part of an international fund led by Al Gore reason to be proud, because it was inspired By Leonardo Valenzuela for companies that practiced Corporate Social by sustainability. It is a pity that neither the Responsibility. In that context, green groups country nor its institutions have learnt from asked Goldman Sachs to transfer the land to this. Almost 20 years later, other megaprojects the environmental NGO Wildlife Conservation like HidroAysen invoke, again, new jobs and an Every time political elections are coming closer, strategy, aiming to defuse opposition to projects. Society (WCS). In September 2004 the bank economic development based in a model that is the pilgrimage of candidates across Chile begins. agreed. It was a win-win situation. Goldman inequitable, centralizing and exclusive. Again This is the essential input to later declare that In this way, the distribution of computers, Sachs got tax cuts by transferring the land to citizens have put obstacles, let's hope that to they have listened to the people. Those living in scholarships, money to start small businesses, an U.S-based NGO, WCS acquired a big park the point of making it unfeasible. We have to regions different than Santiago know what the forage to feed cattle and other favours delivered for conservation, environmentalism with a strengthen these movements. True democracy show is about: a caravan bursts into counties; in return for accepting the project proposals and planetary consciousness welcomed the news, is not just about voting for the President or the kisses, brief press statements and sometimes the desisting of any opposition begins (sometimes while people from Magallanes saw the birth of Congress. It is about participation. Chile left the 3 candidate sits at a coffee table with a couple of this even includes signing a non-disclosure Karukinka Natural Park. dictatorship behind thanks to the strength of carefully chosen neighbours to take pictures of agreement). Nevertheless, the latter could the people”. “citizen dialogue” for the campaign website. be translated into the virtual destruction of 3 In http://www.karukinkanatural.cl the park is defined communities, as it is being experienced by the as “a new model for the conservation of biodiversity in a That is, with some degree of simplification, the nearly 4.000 inhabitants of Cochrane, in the formal alliance between a finance giant and a renowned face of big politics in the territories. Changing Aysén region, threatened by the 5.000 workers NGO for international conservation, something unique scale to other elected or appointed officials, projected to camp few miles from their town if the in the world so far.” the dynamic does not offer much difference, HidroAysen dams are built. A similar situation it only makes more explicit the clientelistic is experienced by the almost 500 inhabitants of means that sustain the operation of politics in the heritage town of Tortel, at the mouth of the the country. "Negotiating" debts of local sports Baker River, who face the possibility of being clubs, "streamlining" building permits at city wiped out of the map in the event that one of councils, "special windows" to apply for housing the dams proposed by HydroAysen collapses. subsidies, among other expressions of petty corruption are the wall that those who stand for making politics differently must face.

The modus operandi of big corporations is not much different, with their armies of young social sciences professionals flooding the communities located in the influence area of their projects, stepping at every single door. Through a cynic and patronising attitude, they gather data about people, their families, skills and needs; conforming the basic input for the development of “corporate social responsibility"

22 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 23 Posters at the first demonstration against Agrosuper in Freirina, Atacama After Trillium, a U.S timber company, left the area, this landscape became home of the Karukinka Natural Park. Region 2011 Demonstration against coal powered energy plants in Las Ventanas, Valparaíso Region 2013

centralism. borders of their towns, they will not achieve a and ongoing effort. Contingent battles should This phenomenon is by no means unique to consolidation as relevant actors in the definition not exhaust the long-term struggle that requires Chile; elsewhere it marked the founding moment of Chile’s future. to be institutionalised to degrees not yet seen in of new ways of making politics in order to deal Chilean politics. We should move towards non- with the growing atrophy of political systems. Those who are resisting the dams in Aysén, elitist forms of politics, away from the industry The Green parties of Australia and Germany are many of whom had previously dealt with nuclear of politics that dwells in concubinage with big prime examples of this trend, in the first case waste disposal projects (Gastre) or an aluminum corporations in the heart of Santiago. The new with the blockade against the hydroelectric dam plant (Alumysa), are very aware that the crusade way of doing politics in Chile is coming from on the Franklin River; in the second with the for the protection of their territory is a constant below and pointing forward. movement against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. These parties were a particular answer to the need for institutional channels Understandably, many people take the favours for those demands distributed at the margins of and desist from battling against what seems politics, which reflected the structural deficits of inevitable. This distribution of benefits generates traditional parties. significant divisions between those who become advocates and opponents of projects. Thus, the Both parties emerged out of intense processes value of several generations living together is that took several years, in which they tested blown up by the action of consultants who try many alternative forms of political organization. to exploit the vulnerability of communities to The experimental phase constituted what the point of exhausting any trace of solidarity. the German Greens called the “long march through the institutions”, a careful process by The territorial centralisation of the political which social movements found their way as administration in Santiago, the capital city, an institutional expression, without leaving encourages the docility of the peripheries, the streets. To a greater or lesser extent, what seeking to convert them into a uniform mass, characterizes the Greens as a model for doing activated from the centre for instrumental politics is perseverance in grassroots democracy, purposes. That is why the emergence of where the party does not exhaust the existence movements that can resist the historical abuses of the movement, but ideally enhances both to which they have become accustomed is expressions, assuming a distribution of tasks. so crucial. Fortunately, there are groups and individuals who have managed to resist this During the last couple of years, multiple social spiral, asserting the defence of their ways movements across Chile have been consolidating of living and the cultural signs of their own and their demands are progressively converging. territories. It is now necessary that these energies can reach some sort of institutional expression, The vindication of the right to autonomously nonetheless adopting a format that is sustainable define their own ways of living has been a over time without becoming just another common element in the emergence of all these conventional political party. Many movements movements. The unrest in Freirina, in the north have chosen an even paranoid caution, quite of the country, and the Aysén Social Movement, understandable due to previous experiences of have been among the most visible of these efforts. co-optation and deceiving practices from the However, their growth has been accelerated to established corporate and political interests. the same extent that the unfair distribution of However, movements have also understood that environmental burdens has become evident, without alliances and projections beyond the revealing the manipulative and perverse logic of

24 verdeseo.cl verdeseo.cl 25

Australian Greens protesting against coal mining and gas fracking in Sydney, NSW, last year. Patagonia for Sale

By Rodrigo Burgos

Regarding this publication:

Owner of the photograph on the cover: Peter Hartmann, Director of Codeff in Aysén and Coordinator of “Coalición Ciudadana por Aysén Reserva de Vida”. Layout designer: M. Ignacia Arteaga, Verdeseo co-director.

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