Image: Fundación Terram / FIS
Fundación Terram asks President Boric to suspend salmon farming concessions in protected areas
CHILE
Monday, October 02, 2023, 01:30 (GMT + 9)
Official letter No. 234053 issued by the Ministerio del Medio Ambiente where it informs other organizations of the suspension of the granting of new aquaculture concessions in process within protected areas, did nothing more than communicate to the other departments a specific aspect of the recently enacted law. published that came into effect. September 29, 2023.

Source: Fundación Terram
The recent approval of Law No. 21,600 that Creates the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service and the National System of Protected Areas (SBAP Law) allows Chile to continue granting new concessions in National Reserves, Multiple Use Conservation Areas and Areas of Conservation of Indigenous Peoples, as long as they meet three requirements: that the protected area has a management plan, that the activity is compatible with the object of protection and have a favorable report from the Service. The absence of any of these requirements prevents obtaining a concession.
Currently, applications for salmon concessions in process are concentrated in the Las Guaitecas Forest Reserve and Kawésqar National Reserve, in the regions of Aysén and Magallanes, respectively. Both protected areas do not have a management plan, so it is not possible to define the compatibility of the activity with the protected area, although it is evident that salmon farming, with its high levels of environmental impact widely demonstrated, is not compatible. with the protection of nature.
As the Constitutional Court has understood, in line with the criteria of the Supreme Court to identify an acquired right, it is important to keep in mind that as long as a concession is not constituted it is not possible to speak of an acquired right, with the applicants only having an expectation of obtain this right. On the other hand, since the law does not have a transitional article that defines a period for the entry into force of the new requirements for granting a concession in protected areas, these requirements begin to govern from the publication of the law in the Official Gazette, that is, September 6, 2023.
In this way, the official letter No. 234053 issued by the Ministry of the Environment where it informs other organizations of the suspension of the granting of new aquaculture concessions in process within protected areas, did nothing more than communicate a specific aspect to the other departments. of the newly published law that came into effect.
However, for the proper application of Law No. 21,600, at Fundación Terram it seems necessary for President Boric to instruct the other ministries with powers in the matter to enforce the SBAP Law and not grant new concessions currently in process within areas protected, in particular to the Ministerio de Defensa, to which the Subsecretaría para las Fuerzas Armadas (SSFFAA) depends, the body responsible for granting these concessions.
Finally, it is worth remembering that all of these concessions, being in process and being only an expectation, do not have cultivation centers inside them and, therefore, no associated employment that could be affected, nor do the dozens of concessions granted in recent years. years that have never operated, and that despite incurring grounds for expiration, have not yet expired by the SSFFAA.
Source: Fundación Terra (Traslated from the original in Spanish)
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