Allison Silverman's Blog: Solving Global Warming tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2010:/blogs/asilverman//86 2010-01-22T02:52:59Z Movable Type Enterprise 1.52 World Bank warns of climate change in Andes tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/asilverman//86.2820 2009-02-26T22:51:17Z 2010-01-22T02:52:59Z As the international community gears up for the next round of UN climate talks, negotiators should keep at the forefront of their minds the World Bank's recent warning that climate change threatens the disappearance of the Andes' tropical glaciers putting... Allison Silverman As the international community gears up for the next round of UN climate talks, negotiators should keep at the forefront of their minds the World Bank's recent warning that climate change threatens the disappearance of the Andes' tropical glaciers putting water, energy and agricultural production at risk. Recognizing the need to combat climate change and to protect unique ecosystems, NRDC has been hard at work in the Andes and in other places in the Americas through our SaveBioGems Program.  Since 2001, the NRDC BioGems Initiative has encouraged more than 11 million citizens to take action to ensure that America's last wildlands and rarest wildlife treasures -- our BioGems -- remain wild for the sake of a sustainable planet and all future generations.

Although the focus of the BioGem program is to stop the threat of large scale logging, mining and industrialization to these special places, climate change now touches everything that we do.  This is nowhere clearer than in our work in Chile. 

Chilean Patagonia is one of the most pristine and least polluted places in the world. While not mentioned in this latest World Bank report, Chile too is suffering from the effects of climate change.  For example, last year was significantly drier than in Chile's recent recorded history coupled with a longer summer.  These two factors created a serious drought in Chile and in addition shallower reservoirs (by an average of 40% compared to the previous year!)  Studies show that the impacts of rising temperature, the sudden drop in rainfall and glacial retreat on Chile's natural environment are significant.  These impacts should not be ignored. 

Ironically, Chile is under intense pressure to dam the most stunning rivers of Patagonia in order to meet its growing energy demands.  The most imminent threat is the HydroAisen project, which proposes to construct five massive hydroelectric dams generating a total of 2,750 MW on two of Chilean Patagonia's free flowing rivers, the Baker and Pascua. 

This project is presented as Chile's energy solution; however, decision makers are not taking into account the impacts of climate change (among a number of other considerable problems). Hydroelectric generation depends on adequate rainfall, which has not been consistent in the past couple of years.  Without a plentiful reserve of water, the dams would not function at projected capacity.  Moreover, glaciers in Chile are retreating, which will also reduce the hydroelectric output.

However, HydroAisen did not mention climate change in its recently submitted 10,500-page Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).  It is unacceptable that in all of those thousands of pages, information and a discussion of climate change was excluded, especially considering the new occurrences of glacial lake overflow (read "major flooding") in the areas nearby to where these dams have been proposed.

Environmental organizations were not the only ones taken aback by the glaring inadequacies and environmental impacts conveniently left out from the HydroAisen project's evaluation.  Thirty-two Chilean governmental technical agencies, including the National Forestry Corporation and the National Geologic and Mining Service, submitted significant criticisms of the EIA.  Their censure coupled with the thousands of scornful public comments resulted in a delay in reviewing the acceptability of this project. 

During this delay, NRDC will continue to work with our Chilean partners, members of the government and representatives from the private sector to encourage investment in renewable and efficient energy.  Since our initial involvement in this campaign to prevent the construction of this ill-conceived mega-dam scheme, we recognized the need to prompt real public debate about Chile's energy future.  Chile is at a critical energy crossroads and has the potential to be a leader on this issue for the region.  Before moving forward on massive energy projects, the government needs to further analyze what Chile's current energy situation and effectively account for the impacts of climate change.  With the upcoming Presidential elections in Chile at the end of the year, now is the time to focus on the best sustainable energy options and to encourage investment in efficiency and renewables. 

 

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