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¿La Gota que Rebalsó el Vaso? Community Acceptance, Uncertainty, and Rejection of Seawater Desalination for the Chilean Mining Industry

Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0002-1141-2604

Abstract / Resumen / Resumo

Between 2012 and 2021, Chile's copper mining industry expanded the use of desalinated water eight-fold. Companies justified this as a climate change adaptation and response to contestation with local communities over water supplies. We draw on previous theoretical work to investigate under what conditions a mining company constructing a desalination plant results in hydrosocial displacements and associated conflict. We compare the Aconcagua plant, which is under construction to supply the Los Bronces mine and was blocked by a federation of artisanal fishers, and plants built for the Los Pelambres and Escondida mines, which generated comparatively little protest. Evidence indicates that the strong reaction in the Aconcagua case was due more to the addition of another industrial facility in a pre-existing sacrifice zone, and less to desalination as a specific target. This suggests that desalination may be relatively tolerable to communities as a climate adaptation for critical mineral mining, and they could benefit by receiving a portion of the water. However, greater vulnerability to desalination harms may be expected in pre-existing sacrifice zones, and desalination does not address underlying political-economic causes of water insecurity in mining regions. In addition, the cases underscore that presence or absence of conflict may not necessarily be an accurate indicator of socioenvironmental harm, especially in marine environments that are difficult for communities to observe and measure. This indicates the need for researchers to better identify socioenvironmental impacts, even in the absence of social movements, and for governments, companies, and communities to adopt measures to empower host populations.

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