Original article: Comunidad Indígena Diaguita Patay Co cuestionó término anticipado de consulta indígena en proyecto de cierre de Pascua Lama
The Diaguita Patay Co Indigenous Community expressed their «deep rejection» of the Atacama Region Environmental Assessment Service’s decision to prematurely end the indigenous consultation process for the Environmental Impact Study «Pascua Lama Closure Phase Modification.»
«This determination disregards the real substance of our observations, omits pertinent information contained in the administrative file, and unjustifiably underestimates the magnitude of the impacts we reported,» stated the community in a public declaration.
In this context, they detailed that in an official meeting held on March 18, 2024, under Article 86 of the SEIA regulations, they clearly highlighted the critical importance of water springs and ecosystems in the High Andes.
«We expressed our concerns about potential alterations to the cryosphere and pointed out that glaciers provide water to the entire Huasco Valley, not just a specific area. We indicated that the impact cannot be considered localized but affects the entire basin, and cumulative and synergistic effects resulting from interventions in the high mountain must be evaluated,» they asserted.
Additionally, the Diaguita community also expressed concerns about risks associated with unstable slopes and potential landslides, due to the possible presence of acid drainage from the unauthorized intervened pit, as well as the impacts on groundwater that supplies the various rivers in the valley.
«We must note our distrust regarding the information presented by the proponent, highlighting the lack of updated hydrological data, the use of information from previous projects, and the omission of the climate event from 2022, as well as the absence of an independent technical counterpart to validate that information,» they pointed out.
Likewise, they warned that the project «has generated a deep social divide in the valley, affecting community cohesion, summer grazing areas, herders, and access to traditional routes.»
However, despite the breadth of observations presented by the community, the Environmental Assessment Service reduced the indigenous impact solely to restrictions on access to culturally significant sites, limiting the discussion to operational aspects that could be addressed through administrative protocols in collaboration with the company.
«This reduction fractures our vision of the territory, separates the ancestral territory, and omits the ecosystemic dimension that was expressly raised,» questioned the community.
«It is unacceptable to reduce the legitimate concern for the headwaters of our Huasco Valley basin to a mere ceremonial access protocol managed by a company with a widely questioned environmental and social history in Chile, Latin America, and various territories worldwide. The protection of a strategic basin cannot be subordinated to formal mechanisms managed by those who have caused the impacts that are now being minimized,» they emphasized.
Trust in Institutional Integrity Deteriorates
Another particular concern for the Diaguita Patay Co Indigenous Community relates to the multiple meetings held between the company and advisors linked to Pascua Lama, with the regional director of the Environmental Assessment Service, Verónica Ossandón Pizarro, and her team, aimed at unlocking the process and facilitating modifications to the project’s closure.
«Likewise, it raises concern that this dynamic has been replicated in the recent approval of the mining exploration project ‘El Alto’ in the same location as Pascua Lama. These actions seriously weaken trust in the institutional impartiality that should guide all administrative actions and compromise the credibility of the environmental evaluation system,» the community highlighted.
«We also denounce strategies by the company aimed at dividing the community, harassing leaders, and co-opting individuals to weaken our collective position. These practices deepen the harm to the social fabric and are incompatible with any process that seeks to present itself as respectful and in good faith,» they reiterated.
It is worth noting that the Pascua Lama mining project was subjected to the maximum administrative sanction from the state: its definitive closure.
In other words, the community emphasized, «we are not dealing with a project without precedent, but with the modification of the closure of an initiative that generated serious impacts and conflicts.»
«Speaking of ‘closure modification’ cannot obscure the accumulated damage or trivialize the risks associated with the high Andes. Protecting Andean high ecosystems, water springs, and the headwaters of the Huasco Valley is not an ideological or political stance, nor a detached technical discussion. It is a territorial and cultural responsibility if we want to continue living here. The water that flows from the mountains sustains the life of the entire valley. Our relationship with the territory integrates culture and nature as an inseparable unit,» concludes the declaration of the Diaguita Patay Co Indigenous Community.
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