Browsing by Author "Berasaluce, Maite"

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    From risk assessment to land planning. The case of a trace element-contaminated area in Chile
    (2024) Mondaca, Pedro; Berasaluce, Maite; Larraguibel-Gonzalez, Cristian; Salazar, Andres; Nunez-Hidalgo, Ignacio; Diaz-Siefer, Pablo
    While abundant scientific literature focuses on diagnosing contaminated areas, solutions with a scientific base are far from balanced. This is the case of the Quintero-Puchuncavi Bay, a widely known contaminated area in the central coast of Chile. Here, arsenic in soils surrounding the industrial complex has been reported as a threat to human health. However, land planning based on As contamination becomes a challenge since the whole area is identified as contaminated. Such a lack of land-planning constrains the occupation and remediation of contaminated soil leading to a brownfield-like landscape. To face this challenge, we proposed using a geospatial decision support system (S-DSS) to integrate the contamination assessment, health and ecosystem risks, and potential land uses. When characterizing soil arsenic concentration thresholds for different land uses in a S-DSS, we could categorize the land in suitable, caution, and unsuitable areas (based on human health risks). This way, we unravel areas with potential use in the current condition while also discerning caution and unsuitable categories, that can undergo extensive and intensive remediation techniques. Similarly, we took a conservational approach to estimate emerging risk from the industrial complex associated to explosions. Altogether, it highlights the potential of S-DSS to integrate different geographic information. We finally feature two APPs regarding current land-use suitability and a modeled one considering future arsenic emissions.
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    Social-environmental conflicts in Chile: Is there any potential for an ecological constitution?
    (MDPI, 2021) Berasaluce, Maite; Diaz-Siefer, Pablo; Rodríguez-Diaz, Paulina; Mena-Carrasco, Marcelo; Ibarra Eliessetch, José Tomás; Celis-Diez, Juan L.; Mondaca, Pedro
    © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Social unrest is on the rise worldwide amid deepening inequalities, environmental degradation, and job crises worsened by increasing social-environmental conflicts. In Chile, a social revolt in 2019 resulted in a national referendum in 2020. An ample majority (78.3% vs. 21.7%) voted to draft a new constitution to replace the current constitution drawn up under dictatorship. The result led to the emergence and empowerment of several organizations demanding an “ecological constitution”. In this context, we aim to analyze: (1) the main social-environmental conflicts in Chile and how they are related to the country’s current constitution, and (2) the potential drafting of an ecological constitution that addresses these conflicts. Across different industries in Chile, we observed common problems that are intrinsically related to the current constitution. This relationship seems to be perceived by Chilean citizens since a survey carried out in May 2021 found 79% support for an ecological constitution. Moreover, 105 of the 155 delegates to the constitutional convention proposed three or more environmental principles to be included in the new constitution. A potential ecological constitution entails principles that would improve the current situation of social-environmental conflicts in Chile. Based on our analysis, we recommend the establishment of watershed-based “territorial rights” in the new Chilean constitution to improve sustainability and environmental justice.