Development & Aid, Environment, Tierramerica

Chile's Sleeping Beauties

SANTIAGO, Oct 11 2004 (IPS) - The substitution of concrete for wood in the construction of sleeper cars for the Chilean railroad is worrying owners of native forest parcels.

A native forest in Chile -

A native forest in Chile -

Chile's state-run railroad company, EFE, is considering replacing 200,000 wooden sleeper cars with concrete structures — an initiative praised by environmentalists and criticized by the lumber industry, which says it will hurt owners of small plots of native forests.

''I think it's an excellent idea and I applaud it,'' said biologist Adriana Hoffman, president of Defenders of the Chilean Forest and former executive secretary of the National Commission on the Environment in the first years of the President Ricardo Lagos administration, which took office in 2000.

''If the Chilean railroad embarks on an expansion policy it must be environmentally friendly,'' Manuel Baquedano, president of the Instituto de Ecología Política, told Tierramérica. He also applauds the EFE initiative to use concrete, but said the eco-focus must be broader.

The national and international bidding process begun by the company on Oct. 4 includes the purchase of 200,000 concrete sleepers for the lines between Santiago and Chillán, 400 km south of the capital. From Chillán and Puerto Montt, 1,000 km further south, will see the replacement of another 250,000 sleepers, maintaining the wooden pieces.

The construction of the 450,000 sleepers will cost EFE an estimated 26 million dollars. According to Baquedano, for a complete maintenance and renovation of the railroad cars would require 1.2 million of the transversal pieces. If they are made of wood it would require the destruction of 3,600 hectares of forest, he said.

The volumes of weight and rail traffic that the sleepers must support mean they must be made with very hard wood, which are slow growth. In Chile, these include red oak (Quercus rubra), coigüe (Nothofagus dombeyi), ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia) and the tepa (Laureliopsis philippiana), all autochthonous and threatened by overexploitation or illegal logging.

The Forestry Institute, a state-run technical agency, proposed that the EFE apply ''positive discrimination'' in favor of wooden sleepers in the bidding, arguing that their quality is similar to that of concrete and withstand intense rail traffic for 30 to 45 years if the lumber is adequately treated.

Construction of the wood-based sleepers ''contributes to the development of a large sector of small forest owners,'' who are committed to rational management and exploitation of native forests, according to Forestry Institute director Rodrigo Ipinza.

But Baquedano says the technical reports with which the institute approves the orders ''are part of the pressure that the logging industry imposes so as not to lose that market.''

The environmentalist said he would not oppose sleeper cars made of wood if they are certified as sustainably produced lumber by independent technical agencies, but in his opinion such conditions do not exist in Chile.

''It has to be an international, credible certification, because Chile is trying to create its own 'green stamp'. The forestry industry wants to create its own certification, which we don't believe guarantees anything,'' said Baquedano.

Forest defender Hoffman says the Forestry Institute's position is ''unacceptable'' because Chile lacks regulatory measures for forest exploitation, and instead of favoring the small forest owners, benefits ''the vicious traffickers of fine lumber,'' as was proven earlier this year when a smuggling ring of Patagonia cypress (Fitzroya cupressoides) was discovered.

''There are some good owners who are concerned about effective management of native forests,'' but they are the exception, just as among the companies that produce high quality sleeper cars, said Hoffman.

''The concrete sleeper cars are much more durable, more solid, facilitate more stable rail lines, and prevent the logging of the forest,'' said the activist.

The Forestry Institute's argument that the purchase of wooden sleeper cars could contribute to sustainable management of native forests is ''fallacious'', according to Baquedano, who pointed out that in Europe ''all wooden sleeper cars are being replaced with concrete cars.''

Baquedano said his environmental group also opposes EFE obtaining wooden sleeper cars in other countries. ''Five years ago the company tried to import such cars from Bolivia, which would have meant the destruction of native forest in that country.''

In Yumbel, a town 480 km south of Santiago, owners of native forest who sell their lumber to the biggest sleeper car company protested the use of concrete, saying it would jeopardize a thousand small lumber producers.

 
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