Well-intentioned environmentalists need to know the difference

By Bernd Heinrich

(Ed. Note: Southern Chile is home to one of the world’s few temperate rain forests.

(Monday’s lead story in The Santiago Times (“The Alerce Case”) touched on an illegal, systematized effort to burn and loot some of these forests and the government’s failure take appropriate protective measures. 

(The article below takes a more profound look at why native forests are important in the effort to fight global warming and why they must be distinguished tree plantations. The essay is written by Bernd Heinrich, emeritus professor at the University of Vermont and author of the forthcoming “Nesting Season.”)

 

 

Ruling prompted by illegal trading of Alerce timber puts an end to secrecy in granting or changing of land titles

Thanks to a little heralded but very important ruling last week by Chile’s Transparency Council (CPLT), the process by which an individual gets or changes legal title to a piece of property will be completely opened up for public scrutiny.

The new ruling was the result of a July, 2009, lawsuit filed before the CPLT by environmental attorney Miguel Fredes, who charged that the State violated Chile’s newly passed Transparency Law (20.285) in the way it carried out its land title operations.

HidroAysen, the mega-energy project slated for southern Chile’s Region XI (Patagonia), said Monday it will delay its official response to the 1,114 questions raised about its controversial project until next June 30.

The US$3.2 billion energy project, owned by Italian energy company Endesa and its Chilean associate Colbun, plans to build five hydroelectric dams in Chile’s pristine Patagonia area on the Baker and Pascua Rivers. The aim is to generate 2,750 megawatts of energy yearly and then transport the energy 2,000 kilometers north to Chile’s Central Valley.

 

Citing 40 cases of injury from jellyfish stings, the city of Osorno will temporarily shut down beaches

Beaches near the city of Osorno in southern Chile have closed due to swarms of jellyfish populating the shores.   At least 40 people have reported being stung by the tiny jellyfish.   According to health reports, the stings produce a painful skin inflammation.