WWF CALLS NATURE SANCTUARY AN ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE

Protests In Valdivia Against Industrial Contamination
Scientists from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) declared the Carlos Anwandter nature sanctuary an “environmental catastrophe” Monday after concluding two environmental impact surveys of the area. The researchers described the area as “an empty expanse of brown, polluted water.”

The Carlos Anwandter nature sanctuary includes an area of approximately 12,000 acres of once pristine wetlands along the Cruces and Chorocamallo River in southern Chile. The wetlands were created after a 1960 earthquake flooded a series of agricultural lands along the banks of these two rivers, creating a rich ecosystem ideal for waterfowl.

In 1981, the site was added to the Ramsar Convention list of internationally important wetlands. The area was at one point home to more than 100 species of rare, endangered, or vulnerable species of birds, including the Coscoroba swan, the white-faced Ibis, and the region’s most famous species, the black-necked swan.

When Celulosa Arauco and Constitución (CELCO) announced plans to build a US$1 billion cellulose plant in 1996, upstream from the protected wetlands, environmental groups in the nearby city of Valdivia immediately protested the plan on the grounds that the plant would cause serious damage to the area. Alejandro Perez, Celco's general director, assured the groups at the time, that company would use adequate waste water technology to ensure the environment was not damaged (ST, Apr. 18, 1996).

Since opening in 2004, the CELCO has been closed twice, once in April of 2004 for failing to secure necessary permits (ST, Apr. 2, 2004), and a second time this June after the company was found guilty of falsifying court documents defending the plant’s environmental policies (ST, June 6).

When WWF visited the CELCO plant in August and again in October they found the waste treatment, storage and disposal safeguards “appalling.” “Filter ashes, which can contain dioxins, and other potentially toxic waste were simply being dumped together in an open air site, where the wind can disperse them,” said David Tecklin, WWF's Valdivia ecoregion coordinator.

According to the WWF report, contaminants from the plant contributed to a massive decline in the swans’ main food source, luchecillo, a type of aquatic vegetation.

Clifton Curtis, director of WWF’s Global Toxic Program, was part of the team that visited the nature sanctuary outside of Valdivia in southern Chile. “We talked to people in Valdivia who said they saw emaciated swans fall from the sky, landing on rooftops and cars," Curtis said. “They were so weak they were unable to carry their own weight.”

The ecological degradation is also affecting the local tourism based economy. According to a recent business survey, river tours are down 60 percent for 2005, representing a reduction of approximately 50,000 tourists this year (ST, Nov 9).

“With the ecological disaster, the tourists just aren’t coming,” said Jimmy Davis, a businessman in Valdivia. “We’ve lost all the sanctuary tours.”

Valdivians also complain of noxious odors and drinking water contamination inside the city limits. Civic groups staged a demonstration Monday to protest the CELCO plant and commemorate the thousands of swans that have died since the plant opened in 2004. During the event, more than 800 people boarded riverboats to journey out to the Carlos Anwandter Nature Sanctuary.

The groups have continuously accused Chile’s government of valuing business interests over local interests. After CELCO shut down the plant last June, President Ricardo Lagos approved a plan to pipe industrial waste to Valdivia’s nearby coastal waters, as well as a request to increase the plant’s arsenic emissions from .001 mg/l to .05 mg/l, the maximum permitted for drinking water in Chile (ST, Sept. 9).

Agreeing with the accusations, the WWF report requested that the Chilean government create a fund to help restore and protect the damaged nature sanctuary. The group suggested that CELCO bear the brunt of restoration costs, as the plant discharges 90 percent of the pollution in the area.

WWF also criticized the National Environmental Commission (CONAMA) for insufficient efforts to inform the public of the extent of the environmental degradation. The report specifically called on CONAMA to publish “all monitoring information since the plant opened, as well as before and after.”

"The sanctuary has suffered so much damage that we won't know, without more research, how long it may take to restore it,” said Tecklin. “The first priority now should be strict measures to reduce pollution at the source.”