Ecobreves – CHILE: Protecting Indians' Access to Water

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SANTIAGO, May 26 2002 (IPS) - The Chilean government plans to set up a monitoring council to ensure that the Aymara indigenous communities living in the country's extreme north have access to the water of the Loa River. At 440 km, the Loa is Chile's longest river, though the volume of its flow diminishes as it passes through the Atacama Desert. The Aymara, who live in the high plains, making their living through raising llamas and alpacas and subsistence farming, have had to compete with the big mining companies for access to the river.

Chilean law protects water resources that feed small farming valleys and desert pastures, says the head of the General Directorate of Water, Humberto Peña, who adds that government will coordinate its efforts with the National Indigenous Development Commission.