Abstract
Environmental harm in Chile takes place in an economic, political, legal, and social context of extractivism. A multiscale process, extractivism involves the mobilisation of a significant amount and volume of natural resources, usually not processed, and the specialisation of areas or territories to produce one single type of product. As a policy, extractivism is encouraged by governments of different political colours from the Global South as a way to promote economic growth and social development. However, in Chile such policy has been disrespectful to nature, affecting seriously the balance of fragile ecosystems and the quality of life of populations who live already in poverty and social exclusion. In addition, environmental legislation in Chile is weak and contributes to abuses and environmental harm due to impunity. This chapter discusses the role of the state in the context of extractivist policies when considering responses to environmental harm from a restorative justice perspective. The authors suggest that the state should both recognise its own negligence and play a serious role in changing such a path in the future. However, the state as such cannot intervene as a third party in mediating between companies and communities but could promote the implementation of a collegial body, with representatives from different sectors of civil society, to identify and address environmental harm. Given the context, this chapter suggests and discusses the model of truth commissions.
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Notes
- 1.
This was the first regional agreement signed by 24 Latin American countries and the Caribbean. It was oriented to guarantee the right of all individuals to have timely access to information, participate in decisions that could affect their lives and their environments, and have access to justice when their rights are violated. The agreement resulted from the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) (Rio de Janeiro 2012) and executed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
- 2.
Environmental tribunals were created later, by the Law 20.600.
- 3.
Article 2 letter (e), Law 19.300.
- 4.
See report about abusive rise of projects in the system of environmental assessment in Chile during the pandemic: https://olca.cl/articulo/nota.php?id=107913 (last accessed 22 January 2022).
- 5.
Such certainty is a notion from civil law. It establishes legal civil responsibility when there is a clear and direct cause of a specific verifiable harm.
- 6.
See http://www.chilesustentable.net/2016/07/modelo-economico-chileno-basado-en-recursos-naturales-se-agota-advirtio-la-ocde/ (last accessed 22 January 2022).
- 7.
See https://chile.oceana.org/zonas-de-sacrificio-0 (last accessed January 2022).
- 8.
See https://www.indh.cl/empresas-y-ddhh-zonas-de-sacrificio-y-conflictos-socioambientales-vulneratorios-2/ (last accessed 22 January 2022).
- 9.
Due to the toxic gases produced in the area, different individuals, NGOs, municipalities, and other entities presented 12 protection remedies against all factories installed in the neighborhood: ENAP Refinerías S.A.; de Enel Generación Chile S.A.; de Copec S.A.; de Epoxa S.A.; de GNL Quintero S.A.; de Oxiquim S.A.; de Gasmar S.A.; de Codelco Chile División Ventanas; de Cementos Bío Bío S.A.; de Puerto Ventanas S.A.; de Aes Gener S.A.; de Asfaltos Chilenos S.A.
- 10.
See https://mapaconflictos.indh.cl/#/ (last accessed 22 January 2022).
- 11.
See the map of socio-environmental conflicts in Chile: https://mapaconflictos.indh.cl/#/ (last accessed 22 January 2022). We must be aware, however, that this map shows conflicts, not environmental harms. To become a conflict, the harm has to be visible and identified by a community, which mobilises itself to deal with such a problem. Given the nature of environmental harm in our country, it would not be surprising if several harms are still taking place but have gone unnoticed or noticed without action having been taken.
- 12.
See https://www.collahuasi.cl/comunidades/inversion-social/ (last accessed 24 January 2022).
- 13.
Personal communication.
- 14.
This role is especially evident in cases of sexual abuse of children in which the non-offender parent has acted with negligence but has, at the same time, the important duty of supporting the victim and/or the offender in their recovery or reintegration process, respectively (Beck et al., 2017).
- 15.
Artemia salina is a species of brine shrimp—aquatic crustaceans.
- 16.
See https://fch.cl/noticias/un-76-de-la-superficie-chilena-esta-afectada-por-sequia-y-suelo-degradado/ (last accessed 23 January 2022).
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Bolívar, D., Guerra, L., Martínez, F. (2022). Socio-environmental Harms in Chile Under the Restorative Justice Lens: The Role of the State. In: Pali, B., Forsyth, M., Tepper, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04223-2_22
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