Communiqué March 2014
In connection with the Risk Study (ER) carried out in La Florida's precordillera at the municipality's request, we wish to share our reasons for maintaining that Bosque Panul remains in mortal danger — and that behind a false appearance of protection, a tailor-made arrangement is being prepared for new real estate businesses, different from the sale of housing but equally lucrative and devastating.
In connection with the Risk Study (ER) carried out in La Florida's precordillera at the municipality's request, we wish to share our reasons for maintaining that Bosque Panul remains in mortal danger — and that behind a false appearance of protection, a tailor-made arrangement is being prepared for new real estate businesses, different from the sale of housing but equally lucrative and devastating.
1. The amendment to the Municipal Zoning Plan (PRC) that was supposed to protect Bosque Panul has failed — by design of Mayor Rodolfo Carter and his urban advisor Esteban Yuretic.
As organized residents, we have been pursuing since 2008 a strategy for the expropriation of Fundo El Panul based on two arguments: (a) the enormous environmental value of the precordillera's native forest and (b) the risk to human life posed by urban expansion into this territory.
In 2011, the municipality — overwhelmed by a community that had been demanding Panul's protection for years — committed to conducting a "Risk and Environmental Protection Study" (ERPA), in order to amend the Zoning Plan using both arguments (a) and (b).
Finally, during the month of March of the current year, the study was published, and we found that it does not incorporate areas of natural value (a) in its results — only risks (b) — due to direct instructions given by the urban advisor to the professional hired to conduct the study, geographer Francisco Ferrando.
Thus, the municipality maintains its original proposal, which, while it restricts the construction of houses, allows the land to be subdivided into 1-hectare plots — clearing the way for other projects, such as the construction of gyms, sports courts, swimming pools, shops, and cafés, with their respective streets, parking, electrical wiring, and sewage systems. These constructions could reach 12,000 m², meaning the destruction of Panul remains a very real threat.
2. Whatever the municipality's final proposal, it must be submitted to a popular decision through a referendum.
Due to a regulatory change made by the previous government (August 2013), projects like those planned for Panul are no longer required to go through the Environmental Assessment Service. If the ecological value of the forest is not incorporated into the Zoning Plan right now, the precordillera and its forest will be left at the mercy of real estate developers.
The municipality will be the only public body with the opportunity to environmentally assess a project in Panul. If the authorities do a poor job and fail to incorporate environmental variables into the PRC, citizens must have the opportunity to express their opposition through a binding referendum.
3. The municipal path to protecting Panul is exhausted. The only remaining option is expropriation, to hand management of this territory over to the community.
Over these years we have learned that, beyond any amendment to the PRC, the central issue in the conflict is who owns the territory — because if the owner's will is to conserve the native forest, this would happen regardless of what the laws say.
This is why Panul will only be safe when ownership is recovered for the benefit of the community. If there is political will from the current government, much of La Florida's precordillera can be expropriated and handed over for management to the hundreds of residents working to consolidate the community park project that is currently keeping our forest alive.
4. The defense of Panul is not a technical, legal, or partisan political struggle — it is a vindication of our fundamental dignity.
For all the reasons we have flagged here, we have launched a social campaign to provoke the necessary public authority actions. We call on senators and members of congress from the district, and on all State officials, to urgently initiate the expropriation of Panul.
To those who feel part of this networked movement, we say: no institutional amendment will permanently protect our forest. There will always be the danger of new projects — even more ambitious and destructive ones. The only thing that guarantees Panul's life is our ability to form a vigilant, organized community that is conscious of its responsibility to the territory.
NOT ONE LESS NATIVE FOREST NO MORE PROFIT FROM OUR LIVES EXPROPRIATION OF BOSQUE PANUL NOW
www.redprecordillera.cl March 2014
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