https://oceana.org/blog/defending-the-humboldt-archipelago/
"When Tania Rheinen first visited the coast along La Higuera on a typical cool,
clouded morning in 2017, the white sand and cerulean water reminded her of
Chile’s many other picturesque beaches. “Nothing too special,” she thought.
Aboard a local fisher’s boat, however, she changed her mind. “Suddenly, there
were seven or so bottlenose dolphins jumping around the boat,” remembers
Rheinen, who had joined Oceana as its communications director in Chile a year
earlier. A family of fin whales swam by. “By that time, I was in awe.”
La Higuera is a region that belongs to the Humboldt Archipelago, where around
80% of the world’s Humboldt penguins reside, kelp forests tower like underwater
castles, vast numbers of sea birds soar, and abalone and razor clams verge on
endless. Before the chalky desert road to La Higuera was paved, scientific
researchers and students were already trekking to document the area’s
biodiversity in 2008.
Coal developers were eyeing the desert oasis, too. La Higuera falls in Chile’s
“Zone 4,” a swath of the country destined for mining since the 1960s. Over the
next 15 years, other developers would line up, most notably the mining company
Andes Iron, which introduced its $2.5 billion plan, the Dominga port mining
project, in 2013.
A group of nine fishers and locals living in La Higuera, who would be joined by
Rheinen and her colleagues including legal and policy experts at Oceana, set
out to protect the Humboldt Archipelago, turning the threats facing their
coastal towns to a conversation heard around Chile: “¡No A Dominga!”"
Via
Fix the News:
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https://fixthenews.com/good-news-child-deaths-clean-cooking-conservation-southern-ocean/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
