Landau, 12th of January 2025. The natural wealth and global importance of the Humboldt Archipelago in northern Chile is so great that the archipelago was declared a ‘protected coastal area with various uses’ in 2023. This designation fulfils a demand from citizens and scientific communities that they have been eagerly awaiting for more than 15 years.
The judgement of Antofagasta
At the beginning of December, the First Environmental Court of Antofagasta upheld a complaint by the company Andes Iron and obliged the Committee of Ministers to vote again on the environmental impact of the ‘Dominga’ port and mining project (see article ‘The Environmental Court exceeds its powers’ from 9 December 2024). This decision was widely reported and discussed in the media. The court decision also triggered many protests. Fishermen and representatives of local organisations blocked the motorway (Route 5), scientists pointed out the dangers of the project in public statements and more than 40 environmental, social, fishing, cultural and indigenous organisations handed over an open letter to President Borić in the Moneda. In the letter, they expressed their strict rejection of the Antofagasta judgement and called on the Ministerial Committee to confirm the previous decision and reject ‘Dominga’ once again due to its serious ecological and social impact on the globally significant Humboldt Archipelago. Nancy Duman, spokesperson for Allianza Humboldt, pointed out that the environmental court had repeatedly ruled in favour of ‘Dominga’. All social and ecological organisations were therefore forced to take action to reject this ruling. At the end of December, local organisations from the community of La Higuera and representatives of civil society filed appeals with the Supreme Court and called on the Supreme Court to overturn the Antofagasta ruling. The SEA (Environmental Audit Service) also defended the legality of the Committee of Ministers' decision and also lodged an appeal with the Corte Suprema. MP Caroline Tello requested that the ‘Environment and Natural Resources’ Committee of the Chilean Parliament meet in Coquimbo and thoroughly analyse the ‘Dominga’ issue.
Renewed rejection of ‘Dominga’
On 8th of January, in an extraordinary meeting chaired by the Ministry of the Environment and consisting of representatives from the Ministries of Economy, Health, Energy, Mining and Agriculture, the Council of Ministers unanimously decided to give the ‘Dominga’ mining and port project another unfavourable assessment. In their decision, the members of the committee analysed the technical grounds of the citizens' complaints, taking into account the statements of the environmental court.
The renewed rejection was greeted with relief by representatives of artisanal fishing, tourism, agriculture and civil society. They had gathered in front of the office of the Regional Secretariat for the Environment in the Coquimbo region and in front of the Ministry of the Environment in Santiago. ‘We are pleased about the rejection. Together with scientists, we have taken various measures that make it possible to maintain our activity, artisanal fishing, in the Humboldt Archipelago protected area,’ said Óscar Avilez, President of the Punta de Choros Fishermen's Association. ‘We live from the fact that our environment is preserved in the long term, that future generations can use it and that we can leave them a legacy. That's why we are saying no to Dominga loud and clear,’ said Avilez.
Carolina Bahamondes, president of the Movement in Defence of the Environment of La Higuera (MODEMA), said that the rejection of ‘Dominga’ also protects activities of growing importance such as tourism. This is a coastal area with the largest populations of whales, Humboldt penguins and other endangered species such as the chungungo. ‘The new rejection of the project confirms that the Dominga project is seriously flawed. It is not feasible in our territory, a unique place in the world, based on the technical opinions of the competent authorities and the scientific community,’ she added.
‘The decision fulfils the requirements of the Environmental Court of Antofagasta, which ordered this vote. The Committee of Ministers, exercising its powers, has decided to reject ‘Dominga’ once again because it is convinced that the project's impact goes beyond what is legally permissible and that the project is not viable in the area. In short, the project is bad for the country,’ said Ezio Costa, Executive Director of the NGO FIMA. ‘Specifically, the issue is that the administrative process - environmental impact assessment - has been concluded on three occasions with the rejection of the harbour and mining project,’ added the lawyer representing the NGO Oceana in the legal dispute.
Before Dominga's environmental impact assessment was completed in 2017, the local community and environmental organisations had already warned that the project had serious technical flaws. For example, inadequate ‘baseline information’ was presented, the area of influence and impacts were underestimated and new shipping routes, possible oil spills with hydrocarbons, increased salinity in the waters and interference with aquifers were not taken into account.
‘This is a unique place of global importance and the entire archipelago should be considered as a unit from a biodiversity perspective,’ explained Dr Carlos Gaymer, marine biologist at the Catholic University of the North. ‘Due to its unique characteristics, the Humboldt Archipelago is very vulnerable to human activities. Therefore, high-impact activities such as mining and harbour activities cannot be installed. Preference should be given to low-impact activities such as artisanal fishing and tourism, which are already being developed locally,’ added Dr Gaymer.
Tumult and violence at the meeting of the Environment Committee
One day after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the ‘Environment and Natural Resources’ Committee of the Chilean Parliament met in the municipal auditorium of Coquimbo. The parliamentarians wanted to hear different opinions from communities and scientists, from supporters and opponents of the ‘Dominga’ project. However, the session did not go according to plan, as members of the Fadechi trade union (Sindicato Nacional Interempresas de Faeneros de Chile) protested outside the auditorium with shouts, banners, drums and other instruments. Félix González, chair of the meeting and deputy of the Green Environmental Party, reacted to the protests and allowed the demonstrators into the auditorium with the promise that they would allow the meeting to proceed calmly and normally. However, the disturbances did not stop and even escalated into verbal and physical attacks on the municipal security service.
‘The perpetrators of the violence were members of the Fadechi trade union who were paid by the Andes Iron company. They wanted to boycott the meeting’, MP Félix González told the press, adding that “they sent people to commit crimes at an activity of the Chamber of Deputies, which is unacceptable”. The MP continued: ‘Andes Iron should be held accountable “as the intellectual author” of the incident.’
The MP for the Atacama region, Daniella Cicardini, said: ‘The rags from “Dominga” attacked women, civil servants, neighbours and threatened parliamentarians with death. All in the middle of an environmental committee meeting. They can expect nothing less from a project that stands for corruption’.
In a press release, Alianza Humboldt condemned ‘these acts of violence and called for the full force of the law. Intimidation, physical and verbal violence must not be allowed to gain the upper hand in democratic bodies. The videos show how representatives of the Sindicato Nacional Interempresas de Faeneros de Chile (Fadechi), a trade union that supports ‘Dominga’ ..., attack the security staff at the Coquimbo theatre.’
The Antofagasta judgement and the events that followed show that environmental and species protection is under enormous pressure and is being fought more and more radically. It is worth remembering that the protection of the Humboldt Archipelago, an ecosystem of global importance, is actually too weak and inadequate. Sphenisco would like to thank all Chilean environmentalists and scientists for their tireless and highly professional commitment over many years.
W. K.
Sources
NGO Oceana, Chile https://chile.oceana.org
El Commual La Higuera (electronic newspaper) https://www.elcomunal.cl
El Mostrador (Chilean online newspaper) https://www.elcomunal.cl
Press release Alianza Humboldt
translated by Claudia Fawer