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CLIMATE CHANGE-CHILE: Govt Plan Falls Short, Say Activists
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO, Dec 5 , 2008 (IPS) - The Chilean government’s 2008-2012 National Climate Change Action Plan presented by President Michelle Bachelet failed to satisfy local environmental and citizen groups.
"We value the fact that (the Plan) recognises the enormous growth in (greenhouse gas) emissions and acknowledges that today we are at the top of the list of polluting countries in Latin America. We also value the measures aimed at improving the information available, for example, on (the effects of global warming on) glaciers," Luis Mariano Rendón, spokesperson for the non-governmental Alliance for Climate Justice, told IPS.
"But we think that the Plan falls very short and lacks the concrete measures that are so urgently needed," Rendón noted. What is worse, he stressed, is "that the effect of the measures that are currently being implemented is actually pushing us in the opposite direction," increasing, instead of curbing, greenhouse gas emissions.
Two such measures, he says, are the fuel tax cut and the injection of one billion dollars into the fund set up to stabilise fuel prices. "The president’s concrete actions this year have actually boosted the burning of fossil fuels," Rendón maintained.
The Alliance for Climate Justice, which launched its activities on Nov. 23, is formed by 14 local groups, including the Programme for a Sustainable Chile, Citizen Watch, the Political Ecology Institute, the Latin American Conflict Observatory, and the National Association of Rural and Indigenous Women.
The government’s Action Plan says that while Chile only accounts for 0.2 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases that cause global warming, emissions have been growing steadily.
Chile is also second in South America in per capita carbon dioxide emissions, producing 3.9 tons per person, according to a 2007 United Nations Development Programme report (UNDP).
"We have to learn from the mistakes made by other countries in their processes of industrialisation. This means always taking people into account. We can’t use just any method for the country’s productive activities. Growth cannot be achieved at the expense of people’s health," Bachelet said Thursday when she presented the Plan.
"Our message today, as a Chilean mission set outs for Poznań, Poland, is that we must trust that the signatory States" to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) "and the Kyoto Protocol will rise to the occasion and deliberate seriously on the future of the human race," Bachelet declared.
The 192 signatory countries are meeting at the Poznań Climate Change Conference Dec. 1-12 to continue debating a new global warming treaty, to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
"We are firm believers that developing countries have a responsibility too," and that "we have to take additional actions that will enable us to promote lower carbon economies," said Bachelet.
"Chile assumes this commitment wholeheartedly, convinced that it is possible to grow in harmony with nature. We are also convinced that climate change is the single most important ethical cause that must be embraced by humanity this century, given the fatal consequences that ignoring this phenomenon would have for the human race," she said.
Bachelet added "that it is no longer possible to turn a blind eye to the catastrophe that these effects could represent if we don’t join together to address its causes. Human life itself is at risk."
The measures included in the Action Plan for Chile, which implements the National Climate Change Strategy approved in January 2006, are organised along three broad lines: adapting to the impacts of climate change, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and building and promoting capacities to address the issue.
The proposal focuses on water resources, biodiversity, human health and coastal infrastructure, as well as tackling the issue in the forestry, agriculture, mining and fishing industries.
In addition to detailing a number of actions, the document announces the design of more specific national plans for adapting to climate change and cutting emissions.
"This is a plan where the president is telling us she’s going to make plans. It’s merely an expression of willingness to devise plans. There are a number of measures that are aimed at improving assessments, at enhancing the information available, but at this point we believe that there is a lot we can do without having to make further diagnoses," said Rendón.
"There are some things that are being done now which are in the pilot phase (such as the distribution of low-consumption light bulbs to poor populations), but we can’t be working at a pilot programme level indefinitely," he said.
Among the adaptation measures outlined in the plan is the creation of a water research centre in the northern region of Atacama, the construction of desalinisation plants to supply drinking water to northern cities, and a 50 percent expansion of the irrigated surface area through new dams and reservoirs.
There are also plans to create a glacier inventory, install monitoring networks, and launch a glacier management strategy.
The government promised to devise a national aquifer monitoring programme, and announced that it will repair and build hundreds of bridges between 2009 and 2020 to improve response capacity to the destructive flooding of natural waterways.
In addition, the Plan states that new varieties of crops and trees adapted to climate change will be developed for agriculture and forestry.
With the aim of reducing pollution, consortiums will be formed to conduct applied research in second-generation biofuels (made from forestry biomass). There are already two consortiums operating with a budget of seven billion pesos (almost 10 million dollars).
In addition, a government guarantee fund - which already has 400 million dollars - will be opened for investment in renewable energy sources and energy efficient technologies.
A Renewable Energy Centre will also be established with an initial budget of 700 million pesos (a little over one million dollars) in 2009.
Along the same lines, the government will promote the installation of thermal solar systems to generate electricity for the public, commercial, household and industrial sectors.
Emissions from copper mining - Chile’s leading economic activity, accounting for 32.7 percent of the country’s electric power consumption - will be measured yearly, and the volume of gases from forest and agriculture export production and transport to foreign markets will be determined.
Similarly, the government plan proposes a labelling system to inform consumers of the rating and volumes of carbon dioxide emissions for new vehicles, and promises to encourage the use of more efficient models.
At the same time, the government undertakes "to provide the necessary infrastructure and safety measures to enable massive use of bicycles as a means of transportation."
Lastly, a national education and awareness-raising plan will be implemented, and a national biodiversity and climate change research fund will be created.
(END)
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