Development & Aid, Environment, Tierramerica

Cell Phone Tower Threatens Park

SANTIAGO, Feb 4 2006 (IPS) - The construction of a 36-meter telephone tower would harm the majestic scenic beauty of Torres del Paine Park, in the extreme south of Chile, says Greenpeace.

– The Chilean affiliate of the environmental watchdog Greenpeace has denounced the Entel PCS telecommunications company project to build a 36-meter cellular telephone antenna in Torres del Paine National Park.

“It is a project whose origins and discussion came about without citizen participation, behind closed doors,” Rodrigo Herrera, national coordinator for Greenpeace's forests campaign, told Tierramérica. He says the blame for the secrecy lies with the company itself and the government's national forest agency, CONAF.

Torres del Paine National Park, administered by CONAF, was created in 1959 and covers 181,414 hectares. It is located between the Andes Mountains and the Patagonian Steppe, in Ultima Esperanza province, in the far south of Chile, some 2,500 km from Santiago.

Thousands of foreign and Chilean eco-tourists visit the area each year, attracted by the mountains, rivers and big lakes, as well as the flora of the ancient forests of lenga (Nothofagus pumilio) and coigüe (Nothofagus dombeyi), and by a rich diversity of fauna, which includes the guanaco (a wild relative of the llama), fox, emu, condor and aquatic birds, like the black-necked swan and taguas (Fulica armillata).

The park, whose name comes from the Paine “towers”, three awesome massifs standing 2,250 to 2,500 meters tall, is an example of “preservation of natural environments and of the cultural and scenic traits associated with them,” where one can observe the ongoing processes of nature and conduct research and education, according to Greenpeace.

The environmental commission of the Magallanes region, COREMA, is to evaluate the Entel PCS project, which could take place in February if it is given priority by the national government's environmental agency, CONAMA.

Herrera said that although Greenpeace presented its observations, COREMA has not commented on the project to build the cell phone tower, which also faces objections from the Southern Chile Chamber of Tourism, environmental groups and local authorities.

“This is very strange,” added the activist, alluding to the fact that the Telecommunications Vice-Ministry's pronouncements on the project haven't been made public, nor have those of the authorities overseeing compliance with international agreements in this area signed by the Chilean government.

Torres del Paine National Park was declared a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and is also protected by the Convention on Nature Protection and Wild Life Preservation in the Western Hemisphere, signed in Washington in 1940.

“We are not opposed to the existence of a telecommunications network inside the park. But there are alternatives for doing so without affecting the natural beauty,” said Herrera, who noted that already operating there are portable VHF (very high fidelity) radio phones and that the refuges for hikers have fixed network computer and voice-over-Internet systems.

A 36-meter tower for cellular phones would not only mar the natural landscape, but could also bring negative consequences in ecological, scientific, cultural and archeological terms, in addition to the impact of the tower's radiation on local fauna, according to environmentalists.

Those who oppose the project fear that, based on a system of free competition, the authorization to build an antenna would set a precedent for mobile phone companies to build similar towers throughout the park, “irreversibly harming its awesome scenic beauty.”

If that were to occur, it would subvert the universal concept of national parks, which is that they exist as a means to preserve nature for future generations, warns Greenpeace.

“Curiously, CONAF, the institution entrusted with overseeing the protection of the parks, seems to completely agree with the initiative” to build the antenna, adds the environmental group.

The Entel company, which emerged just after the end of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) with the privatization of the former national telephone company, has not issued a statement in response to Greenpeace's denunciations.

“This project is being managed very stealthily by the proponent (Entel). There is a lot of citizen disinformation, and it merits a statement from the authorities of the central government,” says Herrera.

Entel is majority held by Chilean capital, and on its board are magnate Ricardo Matte, business leader Juan Claro, former government minister René Cortázar, and current vice-president of the Central Bank, Jorge Marshall.