Chile is going through an unprecedented water crisis with no horizon for improvement

Chile is going through an unprecedented water crisis that does not have a horizon of improvement, the international organization for the defense of the environment Greenpeace warned on Tuesday.

In a statement released on the eve of World Water Day, the NGO also stressed that in addition to the climate crisis, another of the main reasons is the national water management policy, which must be reformed to prevent drought from becoming chronicle.

“The science is clear; the situation is serious and Chile is no exception. Chile is going through an unprecedented water crisis that does not have a horizon for improvement“, he claimed.

“29% of the country’s communes are under water scarcity decrees, affecting a third of the population, and the water management model continues to prioritize large industries to the detriment of peopleadded Greenpeace.

In line with this argument, the organization recalled that the warming is reflected in what has been called the “mega drought” that affects the country and particularly the central regions, between Coquimbo and La Araucanía, which between 2010 and 2015 presented a deficit rainfall close to 30%.

An excess of heat that has absorbed almost 90% by the oceans with the consequent impact on the movement of the sea, the cycle of currents and marine fauna and flora.

“The expansion of salmon farming in the country puts marine ecosystems at serious risk, increasing their vulnerability. Nearly 50% of the salmon farms that operate in the Magallanes Region are without oxygen, which affects all biodiversity”, explains Silvana Espinosa, a geographer from the NGO.

“However, and despite the warnings from the scientific world regarding the impact of Climate Change on the country’s water availability, between 2016 and 2020 the number of water rights granted increased in all the country’s basins. The rain situation will not improve, droughts and heat waves are estimated to be increasingly intense”.

According to the Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), average global warming is around 1.1 °C and is directed decisively at 3 degrees.

A progression that makes it “Urgent to end investment in new fossil fuels and move towards a just transition to renewable energy”.

“Governments must urgently introduce measures in which decisions are made inclusively and in which progress is measured in collective well-being and in the capacity of the Earth to regenerate where polluting countries take responsibility for the damages caused so that nations and communities least responsible for the climate crisis do not continue to pay the highest price”, he added.