Ecobreves – CHILE: Growing Opposition to Mining in the North

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SANTIAGO, Dec 20 2010 (IPS) - “Every day there are more organizations” that oppose the expansion of major mining in the northern Andean region of Chile, due to its harm to glaciers and water sources, activist Mauricio Ríos, of the Northern Environmental Network (RAN), told Tierramérica. RAN led the conference “Building Environmental Justice Faced With Mining Expansion,” Dec. 10-12, alongside the non-governmental Latin American Organization for Environmental Conflicts and the Citizens Panel Against the Castilla Energy Plant.

“At the meeting we set up a calendar of activities,” local, national and international, said Ríos. Chilean and Argentine groups will meet Jan. 15, and a regional conference is slated for June.