"Chile presents landmark decrees to protect two pristine Patagonian rivers", 07 December 2023

...Chile has presented two decrees to declare, for the first time, a ”protected area for ecosystem conservation” of the iconic and pristine Puelo and Futaleufú rivers...

The initiative still needs to be approved by the State Comptroller’s Office. It extends the 2005 reform of the Water Code, which allowed the granting of ”flow protection” status only for supply needs, exceptional circumstances or reasons of national interest to include regional development and the defense of the environment...

“These two decrees highlight the ecosystemic importance of the water resources not only for the flora and fauna of the river, but also for the communities that are articulated through the basin”...

In 2022, local authorities and civil society movements launched the campaign “For the waters of the Futaleufú River”...[T]he most important step in this long road to protection came in August 2016, when environmental defense groups such as Patagonia without Dams got the multinational company Endesa to sign a “renunciation of water use rights” in relation to hydroelectric projects in Patagonia.

These groups now applaud the Puelo and Futaleufú rivers decrees, but warn that they are not enough...