Ecobreves – National Park at Risk

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SANTIAGO, Feb 4 2001 (IPS) - A project to extract underground water in northern Chile is threatening the Lauca National Park, one of the world's major biosphere reserves, located on the Bolivian border. The National Committee in Defense of Fauna and Flora, the country's oldest environmental organizations, warns that the plan endangers bird and llama species.

This Andean location is home to the Chungará Lake, one of the highest altitude lakes in the Americas, which supports a broad range of bird populations. The lake and the Lauca River feed water into the wetlands where llamas, alpacas and vicunas graze. These areas could dry up as a result of the water project.