Ecobreves – CHILE: Critics Point to Lack of Anti-Desertification Measures

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SANTIAGO, Nov 10 2008 (IPS) - “Desertification is one of Chile's most serious environmental problems, but there is no government policy” to fight it, Lucio Cuenca, of the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA), told Tierramérica. Unlike the problems of protecting biodiversity and mitigating climate change — priorities of the government — there are isolated plans and instruments for fighting desertification, and those are not coordinated and have not been evaluated, said Cuenca. OLCA and other organizations met with the ministers of environment and agriculture and are organizing meetings with parliamentary commissions to present their diagnosis and to demand a response from the highest levels.

In 1998, the government reported that 63 percent of the country was undergoing some degree of desertification, which has continued over the last decade, according to the 2007 Agricultural Census, said Cuenca.