An international consortium of energy companies intends to build three hydroelectric dams on the Pascua River and two on the Baker River in the Aysen region of Chile. Should it go ahead, the US$2.5billion Aysen Project would flood 93 square kilometres of wilderness and see the construction of a 2,000-kilometre power transmission line.

Campaigners are using a variety of tactics to persuade the Chilean government to block the proposals. Last month, 100 local people rode on horseback from the banks of the rivers to the provincial capital, Coyhaique, to protest. And a legal challenge is underway in Santiago, hoping to demonstrate that the companies behind the project were wrongly given rights to exploit the rivers during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. There are also plans to influence a national review of Chile’s energy needs and demonstrate that the energy from the dams is unnecessary, and to lobby international banks and organisations, that are thought to be financing the project.                                                               


Mark Rowe

March 2008