Indigenous Peoples, Energy and Environmental Justice: The Pangue/Ralco Hydroelectric Project in Chile's Alto BíoBío

Abstract

In recent months, the reservoir of the Ralco dam, one of a series of dams along the Alto BíOBío River in Southern Chile, has destroyed a pristine mountain ecosystem and permanently and irreversibly disrupted the semi-nomadic lifestyle and world view of the Mapuche/Pehuenche people.¹ At the same time, the communities affected by the dam will attempt to reconstruct their lives and culture using resources and rights provided by a ‘friendly settlement’ reached by them with the Chilean Government and approved by the Inter- American Human Rights Commission (IACHR). This is the aftermath of a decade- long struggle by indigenous communities and environmental groups in defence of their rights against the project sponsor Endesa (a formerly public but now privatised company), the Chilean Government and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC).