希少なペンギンの生息地近くで鉱山採掘計画、チリで物議

【ライゲラＡＦＰ＝時事】絶滅危惧種のフンボルトペンギンが生息する、チリ北部沖合の太平洋の群島は、他に類を見ない動物相を持つ「自然の宝庫」だ。しかし、本土の採掘プロジェクトによって、そのもろい生態系が脅かされていると環境活動家らは警鐘を鳴らす。（写真はチリ中部ライグエラ、プンタチョロス沖のザトウクジラ）
　２５億ドル（約２８００億円）が投じられる鉱物資源の採掘がもたらす経済的な恩恵と、気象災害が迫る地球を守る必要性との間で、チリ国内では議論が巻き起こっている。
　群島は８島から成り、うち３島は国の保護地区に指定されている。全世界のフンボルトペンギンの８０％が生息しており、同じく絶滅の危機にある世界最小のカワウソの他、アシカやバンドウイルカなどもいる。海域には無数の鳥が飛来し、クジラも十数種が集まる。
　カトリカ・デル・ノルテ大学で研究をしているカルロス・ゲイメル氏は、ここは生物多様性の「宝庫」だとＡＦＰに語った。「このような場所は地球上に二つとないと、世界中の科学者が認めています」
　事業は世界的に有名なガラパゴス諸島の近くで採掘を行うも同然の暴挙だとゲイメル氏は言う。
　採掘はドミンガ鉱山で計画されている。首都サンティアゴの約５３０キロ北に位置するこの鉱山は、群島からはわずか３０キロだ。鉱物を積み出す港の建設も計画されている。雇用創出の期待から、プロジェクトを支持する声もある。

■「文化の破壊」
　多くの現地住民にとっては、採掘事業は伝統的な生活様式を脅かすものだ。
　３代目の漁師で、潜水漁を行っているエリアス・バレーラさん（２６）は「私たちが持つ豊かさとは物質的なものではなく、群島や島々の間を自由に行き来できることにあるのだと思います」と語った。
　地元プンタデチョロスの住民は朝、目覚めると本土にある家々から群島を眺め、この地域で代々、持続可能な漁業を営んできた。
　「ドミンガプロジェクトは先祖代々伝わる私たちの文化、先住民チャンゴの文化を破壊するものです。この地域で１万年にわたって環境と調和し、持続可能な形で生き残ってきた文化をです」とバレーラさんは言う。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/11/05-12:49）

The Humboldt archipelago off the northern Pacific coast of Chile is a natural treasure and refuge for unique species of fauna, including a particular type of penguin and an otter on the brink of extinction.
But its fragile ecosystem is under threat, say environmentalists, from a $2.5 billion mining project on the nearby mainland that has stirred the debate in Chile between the economic benefits of mineral extraction and the need to protect the planet as a climate catastrophe looms.
To make matters even more complicated, the Dominga Mining project in the Coquimbo region is also at the center of a corruption scandal that could topple President Sebastian Pinera.
The archipelago -- made up of eight islands, including three that form a national reserve -- is a natural treasure of biodiversity, Carlos Gaymer, an academic at the Catholic University of the North, told AFP.
As well as being home to 80 percent of the world's Humboldt penguins, a threatened species, the archipelago is full of eared seals, bottlenose dolphins and chungungos, the world's smallest otter, which is in danger of extinction.
Scientists all over the world agree that there is nowhere else on the planet like this, said Gaymer. He said the mining project should shock people -- almost as if it were being proposed near the world-renowned Galapagos Islands.
The Humboldt archipelago's waters attract thousands of birds and 14 species of whales.
- 'Destruction of our culture' -
For many locals, the mining project poses a threat to their traditional way of life.
Perhaps the riches we possess are not material, but rather in our archipelago, in navigating freely between our islands, Elias Barrera, 26, a third-generation fisherman and diver, told AFP.
Locals in Punta de Choros, who wake to a view of the archipelago from their homes on the mainland, have survived off sustainable fishing in the area for generations.
For us the Dominga project is the destruction of our culture, our ancestral culture, the culture of the Chango people, the culture that has prevailed for 10,000 years living in these territories in an integrated and sustainable way with our environment, Barrera said.
Around the proposed site of a cargo port and two open-air mines, close to the town of La Higuera, live wildlife of startling diversity: guacanos (closely related to the llama), desert foxes, and colonies of huge Tricahue parrots facing a risk of extinction but which enliven sunset from nests built into sand dunes with a cacophony of calls.
The construction of the cargo port, including a desalination plant, is crucial to making the mining project profitable.
But environmentalists say it will seriously jeopardize both land and marine life on the nearby archipelago.
For Matias Asun, Greenpeace director for Chile, the mining project is a true environmental crime.
Putting a mining project here, (the) best project you could design, would be like putting a discotheque inside a maternity ward, said Asun.
- 'Work for everyone' -
Not everyone living locally opposes the project.
It's a tremendous opportunity for La Higuera, despite the possible impact on the environment, because all projects have an impact, the town's mayor Yerko Galleguillos told AFP.
The town of nearly 4,000 people has no public drinking water, sewage system or supermarket.
Here there are a lot of people who go away to look for work, leaving their families behind. If Dominga comes here there will be work for everyone, said Johanna Yvonne Villalobos, a 47-year-old homemaker.
In August, Coquimbo's environmental authorities ruled in favor of the project, to the shock and chagrin of environmentalists, although the decision still requires supreme court approval.
The Dominga project is located in the far south of the Atacama desert -- the driest in the world -- some 530 kilometers (330 miles) north of Santiago but just 30 kilometers from the Humboldt archipelago.
Mining, particularly for copper for which Chile is the world leader, is crucial to the South American country's economy.
Dominga owners Andes Iron plan on building a treatment plant, a desalination plant, and two waste deposits. Company officials declined to speak to AFP.
The company aims to exploit the mines for 22 years, producing 12 million tonnes of iron and 150,000 tonnes of copper a year.
Andes Iron promises to create 10,000 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs during construction, and 1,500 direct and 4,000 indirect jobs once the mines are operational.
- Need for 'alternatives' -
Biologist Cristina Dorador, a member of the 155-strong body that will draft the country's new constitution, says Chile needs to change its development model, which relies on mineral extraction at the expense of nature.
Of course we will have to develop alternatives ... so that Chile can transform into a society of awareness that no longer depends on external markets and demand for minerals, Dorador said.
Perhaps that shift is closer than it might seem.
The opposition moved on Wednesday to impeach Pinera over the sale of the Dominga mine in 2010 by a company owned by his children to another in the hands of one of his closest friends.
The deal, mostly concluded in a tax haven, came out in the recent leak of financial documents known as the Pandora Papers. It included a clause that would suspend a final payment instalment if the mine area is declared a protected reserve.
Pinera's government ruled in favor of Andes Iron and against the environmentalists.