RE: Urgent Environmental Alert

From: David Preiss (davidpreiss@puc.cl)
Date: Fri May 20 2005 - 11:48:18 PDT


Sounds like a great idea, Marie.
Thank you very much!
David

David Preiss
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile: www.puc.cl
PACE Center at Yale University: www.yale.edu/pace
Homepage: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~ddp6/
Phone: 56-2-3544605
Fax: 56-2-354-4844
E-mail: david.preiss@yale.edu, davidpreiss@puc.cl

-----Original Message-----
From: Marie Judson [mailto:mjudson@ucsd.edu]
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 2:39 PM
To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: Urgent Environmental Alert

David, I'm going to pass this on to my son's high
school biology teacher. Maybe he will launch a
concerted project on it. (They're studying biospheres
and threat to biodiversity right now!)

Regards,
Marie

--- David Preiss <davidpreiss@puc.cl> wrote:

>
>
>
> Dear Friends
> Please help to diffuminate this information. What
> Barrick Gold is doing
> is really outraging. Don't do it only for us, do it
> for you. The
> destruction of these glaciers puts the whole
> humanity in peril.
> David
>
> Urgent Environmental Alert:
> Protect the Glaciers of the South of the World!!
>
>
> Barrick Gold’s Pascua Lama Project
>
>
> Dear friends, in organizations and networks,
>
> In the highest reaches of the South American Andes,
> on the border of
> Chile and Argentina, there are eternal snow glaciers
> of the purest water
> in the world. One of these, in Pascua-Lama, in the
> Huasco region of
> Chile and the San Juan region of Argentina, will be
> soon destroyed
> unless we act quickly.
>
> Applying the laws of the Mining Treaty between Chile
> and Argentina, an
> agreement made practically in secret between both
> countries during the
> presidencies of Carlos Menem and Eduardo Frei
> Ruiz-Tagle, Barrick Gold
> Corporation, through its subsidiaries Compañía
> Minera Nevada S.A. of
> Chile, Barrick Exploraciones Argentina S.A. and
> Exploraciones Mineras
> Argentinas S.A, will extract gold, silver, copper
> and mercury in a
> open-pit strip mine in the delicate high Andes
> bioregion directly upon
> the Argentina-Chile border, destroying the glaciers
> which have nourished
> the region for thousands of years and irreversibly
> damaging the
> ecosystems and life of the indigenous (Diaguita)
> communities.
>
> The United Nations and other world organizations
> have said over and over
> that the right to water is essential to life,
> equivalent to any other
> human right. According to international agreements
> on the right to
> water, the State must guarantee the preservation of
> the water sources
> for future generations. Pascua-Lama’s glaciers
> constitute a natural
> reserve for fresh water for the San Guillermo UNESCO
> World Heritage
> Biosphere site. This in a time when more than a
> billion persons
> worldwide do not have access to water (UN 1992).
>
> These glaciers constitute a precious source of
> environmental knowledge,
> unique in that they carry information of flora,
> fauna, and the history
> of many thousands of years of the region of the
> South Andes.
>
> The mining exploitation will not only ruin the water reserves, but
> also will irreversibly damage the way of life of the
> Diaguita people, who
> have lived in the now-affected zones for many
> hundreds of years. The
> strip-mining will damage the environment of
> ancestral lands of these
> indigenous people of the Americas.
>
> We are convinced that the destruction of these
> glaciers will not only
> affect ourselves and the Diaguita communities, but
> will also affect all
> of humanity, because we think that all are equal
> victims of this attack
> against historical, cultural and ecological
> patrimony of the South
> world. This is the first glacier to be destroyed in
> the South Andes.
> Surely after this will come many others.
>
> We will not permit the authorities of the state to
> authorize this
> exploitation without the necessary international
> protection, adoption
> and guarantee of our human rights.
>
> We think that there is no other solution than to
> create alliances,
> associations and work together to do what is
> necessary to absolutely
> stop this project, to prevent the damage to the
> glaciers, to the
> ecosystem and the memory of the Diaguita people, for
> the preservation of
> the historical identity of Argentina, Chile and
> Latin America.
>
> We invite members of international networks to be
> part of the activity
> of this struggle to defend the environment and the
> history of our
> people. This project is in an important step in the
> approval process on
> the part of environmental authorities of Chile. For
> this, it is
> necessary that you take action as quickly as
> possible.
>
> The glaciers are our right and our children’s right.
>
>
> We need to count on your solidarity:
>
>
> 1. Forward this Alert to every network,
> organization, and friend to
> raise public consciousness over the need to stop
> this attack on
> humanity.
>
> 2. Send an e-mail to the following addresses
> demanding that they
> indefinitely suspend all mining activity in the
> area, for the
> preservation of biodiversity, the indigenous
> historical patrimony, and
> for the water for future generations.
>
> ARGENTINA
> webmaster(at)presidencia.gov.ar
> <mailto://webmaster@presidencia.gov.ar>
> Presidente Néstor Carlos Kirchner
> daniel.scioli(at)senado.gov.ar
> <mailto:daniel.scioli@senado.gov.ar>
> Presidente del Senado Daniel Osvaldo Scioli
> spministro(at)msal.gov.ar
> <mailto:spministro@msal.gov.ar> Ministro de
> Salud y Ambiente Ginés González García
>
> CHILE
> opinión(at)presidencia.cl
> <mailto:opini%97n@presidencia.cl> Presidente
> Ricardo Lagos Escobar
> sromero(at)senado.cl <mailto:sromero@senado.cl>
> Presidente del Senado,
> Sen. Sergio Romero
> ascencio(at)congreso.cl <mailto:sromero@senado.cl>
> Presidente Cámara de
> Diputados Dip. Gabriel Ascencio
> informacion(at)conama.cl <mailto:sromero@senado.cl>
> Director CONAMA
> pavila.3(at)conama.cl <mailto:pavila.3@conama.cl>
> Director COREMA III
> Región Plácido Avila Castro
>
> Organismos Internacionales
> cidhoea(at)oas.org <mailto:cidhoea@oas.org>
> Comisión Interamericana de
> Derechos Humanos
> amedeo.buonajuti(at)unep.org
> <mailto:amedeo.buonajuti@unep.org>
> Programa Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente
> urgent-action(at)ohchr.org
> <mailto:urgent-action@ohchr.org> Comité del
> PIDESC – ONU
> ngochr(at)ohchr.org <mailto:ngochr@ohchr.org> Alto
> Comisionado de
> Derecho Humanos
>
> 3. Sign on to this alert by sending an e-mail to: cpadilla(at)rdc.cl
> <mailto:ngochr@ohchr.org> , dcarrasco(at)fdla.cl
> <mailto:dcarrasco@fdla.cl> , or
> defensadelambiente(at)yahoo.es
> <mailto:defensadelambiente@yahoo.es> , enabling it
> to be presented
> before the States and International Organisations.
>
> 4. Distribute this Alert to all the States that
> maintain diplomatic
> relations with Chile and Argentina, their embassies
> and consulates, and
> relevant international, regional, and subregional organizations, for
> the
>
=== message truncated ===

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marie Judson
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Communication
UCSD, Mailcode 0503
858.643.9090
mjudson@ucsd.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



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