How green does Chile want to be?

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Chile are preparing to vote on a controversial proposal that grants inalienable rights to flora and fauna, and that will reveal to the world just how green the new Constitution will be.

If the plan is approved by two-thirds in a vote in the Convention plenary this week, it will be included in the proposed new charter, and the Chilean model could tilt sharply toward ecological preservation over economic development.

While that seems in tune with a global trend of increased scrutiny of environmental, social, and governance issues, swinging the pendulum too far in a country that relies on natural resources would threaten investments, jobs, and even global markets. raw material.

The initiative is part of a series of votes to be held in plenary that also includes the nationalization of mining and changes to private property rights.

The 105-article document was approved last week by the Convention’s Environment Committee, ignoring all changes proposed by a minority of Conservative members. The articles include granting nature the status of a subject of law, the imprescriptibility of crimes for environmental damage and guaranteeing the right to a “decent and ecological housing”.

This goes beyond the models of sustainable development established in international treaties, according to Felipe Riesco, an expert in environmental law at Barros, Silva, Varela & Vigil and former Undersecretary for the Environment under outgoing President Sebastián Piñera.

“The people voted for a new Constitution because the state services were badRiesco said. “Nobody voted for a new Constitution because they want to grow less”.

The members of the commission are trying to leave as little as possible so that future governments or legislators can modify or decide on their own, said Javier Vergara, a partner at Vergara, Galindo & Correa and a professor of environmental law at the University of Chile. “The text includes rules on how to dispose of waste. It is good to regulate that, but is the Constitution the place for that?Vergara said.

Without a doubt, the proposals presented in the Committee on the Environment – made up of numerous young activists – face a tougher test in the plenary of the Convention, where a majority of two thirds of a group of 154 delegates with more ideological ideologies is required. diverse.

The Convention has until July 4 to present a proposed Constitution. A referendum is scheduled for the second half of the year to approve or reject the document.

In the past week

The left and center left members of the Convention reached an agreement to maintain some kind of bicameral legislative system, but with different powers for each house. The Senate would be replaced by a Territorial Council with less ability to review laws. This has caused friction in the incoming government of Gabriel Boric, as his future Housing Minister and other members of the Socialist Party criticized the initiative.

The plenary also voted on the report of the Committee on Knowledge Systems, which covered a wide variety of issues such as communication rights, freedom of the press, cultural rights and digital rights, with some articles of a very specific nature, such as rights of street artists. Nine of its 30 articles were approved, clearing the way to be included in the draft Constitution.

Another Human Rights commission also made headlines last week after United Nations representatives criticized an article that would ban what is known as “denialism”, or statements denying past human rights violations.

A Cadem poll published on Sunday showed that 47% of those consulted plan to approve the new constitution, unchanged since the beginning of this month, while those who plan to reject it fell from 38% to 32%. The percentage of undecided rose from 15% to 21%.

The Cadem survey asked 712 people between February 23 and 25 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.