[ARCHIVO] President Bachelet: “It’s up to us to make sure Chile is better prepared for the effects of climate change”
The presentation of Chile’s National Climate Change Action Plan at Los Aromos Reservoir in Limache was attended by President Michelle Bachelet along with Environment Minister Marcelo Mena and Public Works Minister Alberto Undurraga. The Plan fulfills the government’s promise to comply with Chile’s commitments under the Paris Agreement, which include a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030; promoting non-conventional renewable energy sources; putting forward an energy efficiency law; reforesting 100,000 hectares of mostly native forest; developing air decontamination plans; and implementing green taxes on industrial and vehicle emissions.
“Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge faced by humanity because of its devastating effects, its implications for the planet and above all, because the harm we’re talking about is largely irreversible,” the President said. She added, “In Chile we know this is true and that the cost will be very high. Record amounts of rainfall, drought, wild fires and high temperatures are not vague phenomena since they directly affect our agriculture and livestock through progressive desertification and retreating glaciers or powerful tides, which have destroyed an important part of the coastline but have also altered the marine ecosystem along our shores. So it has already caused substantial harm to human and animal life.”
The National Climate Change Action Plan has 16 specific objectives and 30 lines of action consisting of 96 concrete measures, each of which falls into one of four categories: adaptation, mitigation, implementation measures and climate change management measures at the regional and district levels. The Plan was developed with the participation of 20 government agencies and a public consultation process that gathered more than 1,200 comments.
Among the key measures are nine sector plans for climate change adaptation. Of those sector plans, four are already being implemented: forestry and agriculture, biodiversity, fishing and aquaculture and healthcare. In addition, the network of monitoring stations managed by Chile’s Meteorological Service will be improved by incorporating key climate variables to develop predictive models and for early detection of potential threats. In addition, the Service will generate climate vulnerability maps to support decision making in the various regions.
The plan also includes mitigation actions, such as reducing energy consumption in buildings, HVAC systems, and other measures; increasing energy efficiency standards in transportation and promoting the use of cleaner buses; and increasing the share of renewable energy in the country’s power grid. Other measures include forestation of 140,000 hectares, mainly with native species, the creation of a Sustainable Construction Code for residential buildings and greater allocation of resources for parks and plazas.
In terms of implementation measures, the government will develop legislation to strengthen the institutional framework for addressing climate change; designate a standing committee of experts and representatives from all sectors to propose concrete actions to confront the phenomenon; create a climate change policy for the defense sector; form a Scientific Committee to advise the government on policymaking in this area; create a National Education Program on climate change; and require that climate change be addressed in competitive public funding awards for scientific research through National Commission for Scientific and Technology Research (CONICYT).
The measures for climate change management at the regional and district levels include support for research at universities and local research centers and development of plans for each region of the country, such as Easter Island, to address climate change impacts in a resilient and sustainable way.
The President noted that the Action Plan is in addition to measures that have already been taken, such as construction of reservoirs, creation of protected marine sanctuaries (the area of which has been tripled), implementation of the Patagonia Parks Network (creating a 4.5-million hectare “green lung”) and the promotion of non-conventional renewable energy sources.
“It’s up to us to make sure Chile is better prepared for the effects of climate change, and we will respond to climate change with actions,” she said.
Finally, President Bachelet stressed that Chile “must provide realistic solutions to address the harsh reality of climate change” and called on all Chileans to commit to this cause: “This can’t be a short-term effort. It has to be a persistent, sustained effort in which the will to change doesn’t depend on a few people, but is organically integrated into how the country functions. And this is especially true in our country, because individual and personal decisions in regard to many of these issues influence whether one is contributing to the acceleration of climate change or not. There is no alternative; this is the intelligent, humanitarian and urgent thing to do.”