Chilean lithium deposits [image credit: travelandleisure.com]
By a big majority, the people said no – that’s it. Ideology overload?
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Chile rejected a new constitution on Sunday which, if accepted, would have significantly expanded environmental rights and recognised the urgency of climate action, says Climate Home News.
In a referendum, the South American nation rejected the proposed constitution by 62% to 38% in favour. Voting was mandatory.
As home to the world’s largest reserves of lithium, a key component of batteries for electric vehicles, Chile is of strategic importance in the global clean energy transition. This comes with social and environmental tradeoffs.
National analysts said the rejection was a “gigantic missed opportunity” to regulate the mining sector in a greener and fairer way. The result leaves Chile with fewer tools to face climate shocks, they said, such as an ongoing 13-year-long megadrought in the central part of the country.
“It’s a gigantic missed opportunity to advance in environmental ethics and a more ecological society,” said former senator Guido Girardi, of the center-left Party for Democracy. Girardi added that this decision must not obstruct climate action going forward.
President Gabriel Boric, who supported the new constitution, said in a statement that the result was an “overwhelming message” of dissatisfaction with the proposal. He plans to push for an improved text, he said.
More than 15 million people were registered to cast a compulsory vote, after a two-year redrafting process. The existing constitution was written in 1980 by Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship.
The proposed update significantly expanded environmental rights in the country. It placed limits on the mining industry, such as a prohibition on mining near glaciers, protected areas and drought-prone regions.
It declared Chile an “ecological” state, recognized nature as a subject of rights, ordered the state to take actions against the climate crisis and abandoned the term “natural resources” to use “natural common goods” instead.
“There is a very potent influence of the latest climate and environmental science in this text,” said Chilean lawyer, Felipe Pino, from the environmental law NGO FIMA. In contrast, the Pinochet-era text allows for extractive practices such as the privatisation of water sources and mining in sensitive areas.
Full article here.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
(909)Ch(!)’llongherd'(11)?
“out0f(airPLA(!)N$)“
Would be interesting to know whether the Poll asked YES to change or YES to remain…. seems people ( sheeple) prefer to vote yes to anything… In my book, would prefer folk to say Non!
Reblogged this on Utopia, you are standing in it!.
a green planet
michinin’ “br(!)X IT weather” prose & constitution 0R[well]cons & PR0$……..
err “plain hindsight” 2020:
We CO up Don˚Tsea(!)wwho0DDth0rough atan(˚Tru(mm)$$)˚Trate??
C’hi’11y green C’on’sand-pros:
fooll ME once shame on ME; tw.ice?? sh ai (mm) on U.
Sincerely,
Southern Annular Mode
Boric reshuffles Cabinet to bounce back from rejection
Wednesday, September 7th 2022
After Rejection prevailed in Sunday’s referendum to approve a proposed new Constitution, Chile’s President Gabriel Boric Font was forced to reshuffle his cabinet in a move to regain some credibility after less than 40% of voters supported him.
Hence, the head of state reshaped his administration with a more moderate team instead of the far-left group that came to power with him.
https://en.mercopress.com/2022/09/07/boric-reshuffles-cabinet-to-bounce-back-from-rejection
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No prizes for guessing what the ‘far left’ group’s climate ideas looked like: ‘ordered the state to take actions against the climate crisis’.
Reblogged this on Calculus of Decay .