Chile, under its youngest President Gabriel Boric, has taken a historic step: to grant a Constitutional status to Rights of Nature. But can economic growth be simultaneously sustained?
A Green Constitution
Environment has been a crucial part of President Gabriel Boric’s election campaign, who came to power in March 2022 with a massive majority of 56% vote share and a promise of leading “Chile’s first green government”. Now in office, Boric is all set to put his ideas into action as reflected in several articles of the new Constitutional draft which recognises the Rights of Nature.
Rights of Nature states that just like all humans have certain fundamental rights (called Human Rights) for simply being humans, nature too has a right to exist, flourish, regenerate its cycles and naturally evolve without external disruptions caused by humans. It further guarantees nature the status of legal personhood where violation of its rights can be taken to the court of law and where it can be legally represented by concerned individuals or environment groups. In 2008, Ecuador became the world’s first country to grant constitutional status to the Rights of Nature.
Several articles of the new Chilean Constitution reflect the commitment to implement the Rights of Nature.
Article 4 of the Constitution states:
“Nature has the right to have its existence protected and respected, to regeneration, to the maintenance and restoration of its functions and dynamic balances, which includes natural cycles, ecosystems and biodiversity. The State through its institutions must guarantee and promote the Rights of Nature as determined by the constitution and laws.”
Similarly, Article 26 on Earth-centred policies states:
“These are principles for the protection of nature and the environment and include, at minimum, the principles of progressivity, precautionary, preventive, environmental justice, intergenerational solidarity, responsibility, and fair climate action.”
While Article 1 emphasises on the duty of the State during climate and ecological crises, Article 2 holds the State responsible for the protection of animals keeping their sentiments in mind and guaranteeing them the right to an abuse free life. Article 23 B similarly tasks the State with the responsibility to protect biodiversity and preserve, conserve and restore the habitat of wild native species so as to ensure their survival.
Article 33 emphasises on the concept of Environmental democracy and recognises the popular right to access environmental information that is in the possession of the State. All information related to the environment including State collected data and statistics thus must be made available to the public.
Moreover, the Constitution recognises Climate Change as a grave issue and a product of unrestrained human commercial activities.
A Long Battle
Chile would be one of the pioneer countries to foundationally rewrite its constitution on an environmental basis. The current Constitution which came into force in 1980 (henceforth, The 1980 Constitution) was written under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet who overthrew the democratically elected Socialist government of Salvadore Allende in 1973.
Though the 1980 Constitution pays heavy lip service to the respect of human rights, the Constitution has been infamous for promoting an unregulated free market which has brought immense suffering to the middle and poor classes of Chile. Chile remains the most unequal country in terms of income inequalities among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with its wealth gap being 65% higher than the average income gap in the OECD, indicating that the benefits of economic liberalisation since Pinochet have remained constrained to a few elite groups. Environment has particularly borne the brunt of the unregulated free market with the development of “Sacrifice zones” across Chile i.e. highly polluted areas near chemical, mining industries and refineries which are almost exclusively located near the habitats of the poor. Northern Chile, the hub of the mining industry, has particularly suffered the most with cases of cerebrovascular diseases and lung cancers being several times higher than the national average among the residents of the “Sacrifice Zones” of Huasco and Tocopilla.
Environmental concerns and resource conflicts particularly related to water have come to characterise dissent and turbulence in Chilean society. At the heart of this conflict has been the 1981 Water Code brought under Pinochet. The Code has been unique in the sense that it completely functions on market principles when it comes to water economics, leaving little space for the government to regulate the private players. Besides, it has no environmental safeguards such as instream flows so as to ensure the replenishment of water bodies. Scarcity of water, much of which is channelised to lucrative albeit water intensive industries such as mining has not only created immense trouble for the middle and poor classes but has also contributed to the intergenerational conflict among the Indigenous population, as the case of Water conflicts in Chiu Chiu area shows. It is believed that if the trends prevail, the capital Santiago, the location where 50% of the GDP is produced and 40% of the population resides, would face a 40% reduction in its water balance by 2070. Governments so far have proved to be inefficient in bringing respite in this regard. Several protests have taken place against such entrenched inequalities, with the most prominent being the Penguins’ Revolution of 2006, a movement led by 800,000 to 1 million high school students calling for educational reforms and the March of the Penguins (2011), the movement which demanded subsidised transportation for students and public grants in education and threw up important leaders like Boric.
The demand for rewriting the Constitution from scratch was sparked off by the 2019 protests against a hike in metro fare which soon spiralled into a larger mission to change the very foundations of the country’s governance. The struggle led to the election of a 115 member Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Constitution, dominated by leftists, independents and environmentalists with an equal representation of women. Amidst the development, Boric came to power with the call “If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism in South America, it will also be its grave”.
Challenges
While Boric’s policies seem to be an answer to Chile’s problems, there are several challenges that stand in his way.
The promise to achieve 100% decarbonisation in the next 25 years faces a tough challenge due to widespread droughts which have led to a slip in the country’s hydropower potential, so much so that the national body which oversees electricity, Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional, has called for the postponement of the closure of Bocamina 2 and Ventanas 2 coal fired power plants by a year. Though Chile has a widespread renewable energy sector with 21% of the energy being tapped from replenishable sources, the market is marked by massive wastage, infrastructural and operational deficiencies. In January 2022 itself, 160 GWh of energy was lost, which amounts to more than the total energy produced in all of 2019.
The Conservatives have blamed the radical environment policies of the Boric government as a threat to Chile’s economic development, which, showing positive signs of economic recovery, stands as the richest economy in the whole of South America. The environmental policies are particularly at odds with the lucrative mining industry specifically of copper (28% of global production) and lithium (22% of global production) which is crucial not just for the continued growth of the Chilean economy but for the world at large as it is an important ingredient for producing clean energy. While Salvadore Allende had nationalised the mines which were mostly owned by American corporations, Pinochet sold them off to private players, which still remains the case. While many among the new government have called for complete nationalisation of mines, others have called for progressive taxations on the mining corporations and putting strict environmental safeguards in place.
Moreover, Conservative opposition against Boric has already started as reports of his approval ratings falling by 50% emerge. The Far-Right parties have already been criticising his government for their lack of experience and policies that are ‘too radical’. If Boric fails to maintain economic growth, his approval ratings might fall further and conservative elements might convert it into a way of recuperating support in their favour and try to stall all environmental policies.
A major challenge is also the implementation of such radical policies. The experiment has no precedent in Chilean history which has been economically dominated by exploitative private sector enterprise, standing upto which would be a major test, not just for environmental politics but also the future of left wing politics in the region.
The Road Ahead
The need of the hour for the Boric Government is to balance Rights of Nature with sustained economic growth. While sudden and complete nationalisation might be detrimental to the economy; progressive taxation, implementation of environmental safeguards and restrictions on corporations can play a major part in achieving green growth. If successful, the Chilean model of environmental protection can be appropriated not just by nations individually but also by international organisations such as the United Nations.
As a developing economy, Chile’s steps in prioritising ecology presents an interesting and hopeful example for not just other third world countries but also the developed world and marks a major step away from the anthropocentric world that we live in towards a world of inclusivity and sustainable growth. A successful contribution by Chile in this regard would be ranked among one of the major cases of the Global South leading the way ahead.
