El Ciudadano
Original article: La historia de «Un Parque para Las Salinas de Viña del Mar», parte 2: Justicia Ambiental
More than 5 years have passed since the publication of the beginnings of the movement’s story ‘A Park for Las Salinas de Viña del Mar’: its formation, the reasons behind it, and the arguments supporting why the Las Salinas area should be a coastal urban park, particularly due to the health risks stemming from contamination found in soils, groundwater, and the coastal edge of the city.
Today, much has changed. What began as a citizen’s urban-environmental proposal has evolved into a true movement in defense of health and life.
This process has been facilitated by the development of citizen science in collaboration with scientists, utilizing an interdisciplinary approach.
In this context, COPEC, through its subsidiary Inmobiliaria Las Salinas, has reactivated the source of pollution by excavating and removing soils, which will be partially treated through biological piles (biopiles), while another portion will be relocated from the Las Salinas area.
However, it’s crucial to remember that these operations commenced without the implementation of the Participatory Monitoring Plan (PMP), a condition explicitly established and required by the Ministers’ Committee in the Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA).
Since the onset of these activities, all observations and scientific evidence concerning the risks to human health have transformed into emergent and consumable facts, which have been reported by the affected community to the competent organizations, primarily to the Superintendency of the Environment (SMA).
This institution has faced criticism from both residents and Mayor Macarena Ripamonti, due to a perception of leniency towards the private interests it is supposed to oversee.
It is worth noting that to address such situations, the Chilean State established the figure of the Independent Environmental Auditor (AAI), a mechanism that is currently entirely absent from the ongoing process.
In this deeply unjust scenario for environmental health and the lives of those living in the city, the community of Viña del Mar, led by the movement, has filed the largest environmental damage lawsuit in Chile’s history before the Second Environmental Court of Santiago. This action is set to potentially establish a precedent for environmental justice in Latin America, given the severity and extent of the damage inflicted.
The accumulated environmental damage over more than a century in Viña del Mar has not been benign. Pollution has spread to the coastal edge, particularly towards the beach sands, where entire families, including children in critical stages of biological development, have been exposed and interacting with this reservoir of toxic chemical compounds.
This exposure has chronic and potentially lethal adverse effects, including increased risk and mortality from cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, among others. Moreover, these effects may extend to future generations through epigenetic mechanisms.
The environmental damage lawsuit, filed by more than 1,000 residents of Viña del Mar, results from years of independent research conducted under an evidence-based science approach. This research is also built upon advanced principles of causal inference, allowing for a more robust understanding of the relationship between exposure and harm.
The evidential architecture developed in this case exceeds major international precedents in environmental justice, such as the Hinkley Case, Crosby Case, and the Love Canal Disaster.
As a community that has had to endure the effects of this pollution, we hope that the country’s jurisdiction is capable of rising to the evidence presented. We demand that biological, testimonial, and causal evidence determines the extent of the environmental damage, which, at this point, is undeniable and is even manifesting through the direct experiences of those who live in areas adjacent to the excavation process.
Why must those of us who inhabit the city pay the price of a megaproject with our health and quality of life?
As a community, we are aware that the cost of truth is high. We recognize that the path ahead will be challenging. But we also know that we must move forward with conviction on the road to environmental justice, caring for health, nature, and life.
Movement A Park for Las Salinas de Viña del Mar
Contact: unparqueparalassalinas@gmail.com
La entrada The Story of ‘A Park for Las Salinas de Viña del Mar’, Part 2: Environmental Justice se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.
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