We invite you to read the column written by our partner, Antonio Rubilar, where he addressed the water crisis in Chile regarding Climate Change.
Our country has just taken an important step. On December 3, the Regulation of Information Systems on Climate Change was published, which establishes the creation of an infrastructure for access, management and citizen participation in climate change issues.
Thus, its main objective is that the public sector provides quality information on a continuous basis, regarding the progress of our country in this aspect.
Among the main elements of this new regulation is the establishment of a National System of Access to Information and Citizen Participation, to facilitate the availability and understanding of climate data for all citizens, promoting participatory and informed decision making.
This tool will include a National Inventory of Greenhouse Gases, a Climate Adaptation Platform, among other fundamental elements for the knowledge and action by citizens in an aspect as relevant as the problems we face in environmental terms.
However, although this is very positive news, in order to really move forward, it is essential to focus on one of the main effects of climate change in our country: the water crisis. As a consequence of climate change, access to fresh water is progressively scarcer, so it is increasingly privileged for human consumption. This is having a major impact on different economic sectors, such as agriculture and mining.
In this sense, one of the main challenges to face this scenario is permitting. In Chile, projects take a long time to be carried out due to the number of permits that companies must obtain in order to move forward.
And, in the context of climate change, it is necessary to carry out desalination projects to provide water for mining, agriculture and, in some cases, as has happened, for example, in Antofagasta, for human consumption.
We are far behind as a country. This change should already be taking place. However, progress is being made with some measures. For example, we are currently working on projects to ease permitting, which is essential to provide the private sector with certainty to invest.
As long as this is further developed and there is a regional development plan linked to desalination, the main consequence of climate change in our country could have a solution.
In this context, the regulation that has just been approved is a great step forward, since it promotes precisely the main aspect that we must develop in order to move forward: collaboration between all of society: citizens, the public and private sectors.
It is to be hoped that the new system that will be created will become a tool to have the necessary information to take the necessary actions to face the water crisis and all the effects that climate change is having on our country.
Column written by:
Antonio Rubilar | Partner | arubilar@az.cl
