Chronicle of an Environmental Disaster: Aculeo Lake, the Collapse of the Largest Natural Freshwater Ecosystem in Central Chile

Alaniz, Alberto J.; Carvajal, Mario A.; Núñez‐Hidalgo, Ignacio; Vergara, Pablo M.

doi:10.1017/s0376892919000122

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(20 reference statements)

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“…These activities are characterized by large and increasing water demands, which have propitiated substantial land use and land cover changes, and water use demands during the last three decades (i.e. -Schulz et al, 2010, Alaniz et al, 2019.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In that regard, considering the current limitations of the Chilean water management system to deal with water scarcity problems during the MD (e.g., Alaniz et al, 2019;Muñoz et al, 2020;Barría et al, 2021), and the possible implementation of mega infrastructure strategies to search for new and distant water sources, it is urgent to revise and improve current water allocation mechanisms (Barria et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Water allocation under climate change

Barría

Sandoval

Guzman

et al. 2021

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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Chile is positioned in the 20th rank of water availability per capita. Nonetheless, water security levels vary across the territory. Around 70% of the national population lives in arid and semiarid regions, where a persistent drought has been experienced over the last decade. This has led to water security problems including water shortages. The water allocation and trading system in Chile is based on a water use rights (WURs) market, with limited regulatory and supervisory mechanisms, where the volume to be granted as permanent and eventual WURs is calculated from statistical analyses of historical streamflow records if available, or from empirical estimations if they are not. This computation of WURs does not consider the nonstationarity of hydrological processes nor climatic projections. This study presents the first large sample diagnosis of water allocation system in Chile under climate change scenarios. This is based on novel anthropic intervention indices (IAI), which were computed as the ratio between the total granted water volume to the water availability within 87 basins in north-central and southern Chile (30°S–42°S). The IAI were evaluated for the historical period (1979–2019) and under modeled-based climatic projections (2055–2080). According to these IAI levels, to date, there are 20 out of 87 overallocated basins, which under the assumption that no further WURs will be granted in the future, increases up to 25 basins for the 2055–2080 period. The results show that, to date most of north-central Chilean catchments already have a large anthropic intervention degree, and the increases for the future period occurs mostly in the southern region of the country (approximately 38°S), which has been considered as possible source of water for large water transfer projects (i.e., water roads). These indices and diagnosis are proposed as a tool to help policy makers to address water scarcity under climate change.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water allocation under climate change

Barría

Sandoval

Guzman

et al. 2021

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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“…As well, the identification of those ecosystems makes it possible to implement measures appropriate to their territorial context (e.g., land tenure, water catchments, and ocean fisheries). This is important because a significant proportion of ecosystems that face high risks are those close to areas of high human activity with rapid changes in use of land, freshwater, and the oceans (Alaniz, Galleguillos, & Pérez‐Quezada, ; Alaniz, Carvajal, Núñez‐Hidalgo, & Vergara, ; Joppa & Pfaff, ).…”

Section: Opportunities For Rle To Inform Public Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Efficient strategies to implement conservation often combine public and private stakeholders in PA´s in natural environments, as well as planning and regulatory instruments in agricultural, forestry, fisheries, and mining environments. A significant proportion of threatened ecosystems are close to areas of high human influence (Alaniz et al., , ; Crespin & Simonetti, ), and generally outside PA´s. Public and private investments through mechanisms such as tax exemptions, green bonds, ecological product certifications, subsidies, and stewardship payments could be targeted to support land owners to maintain and conserve threatened ecosystems (Table ).…”

Section: Framework For Incorporating Rle Into Public Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Operationalizing the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems in public policy

Alaniz

Pérez-Quezada

Galleguillos

et al. 2019

CONSERVATION LETTERS

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Threats to ecosystems are closely linked to human development, whereas lack, insufficiency, and inefficiency of public policies are important drivers of environmental decline. Previous studies have discussed the contribution of IUCN's Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) in conservation issues; however, its applications in different policy fields and instruments for achieving biodiversity conservation have not been explored in detail. Here, we introduce a framework to operationalize the RLE in public policy, facilitating work of governments, practitioners, and decision makers. Our analysis identified 20 policy instruments that could reduce risks to ecosystems highlighted by different Red List criteria. We discuss how RLE could inform the policy process by analyzing different instruments that could be designed, implemented, and modified to achieve risk reduction. We also present practical examples from around the world showing how ecosystem conservation could be improved by operationalizing the RLE in policy instruments. The RLE criteria can inform the policy process by helping to shape objectives and identifying policy instruments that directly address the causes and severity of risks illuminated in Red List assessments. We conclude that RLE could be expanded into a broader holistic spectrum of policy instruments, which could be a key to achieving the ecosystem conservation.

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“…This not only exacerbated water quantity/quality problems, but also conflicts among residents as it left over 2,000 people without potable water during most of the summer season. The drying of once the largest freshwater ecosystem of Central Chile (Alaniz et al 2019) has been the most visually striking sign of the current water scarcity crisis in Chile. The shocking before/after photographs, as well as videos of water‐carrying trucks distributing water to local families in the three surrounding towns (Pangue, Rangue, and Aculeo), gave national and international visibility to the situation (such as UNESCO/Netflix documentary “WaterWise, how not to drain a Country”), and were later used in national debates about water insecurity and climate change impacts in Chile.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration perceptions and collaboration challenges under severe water scarcity: the Aculeo Lake process

Ocampo‐Melgar

Barría

Chadwick

et al. 2021

Restoration Ecology

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A governmental watershed collaborative process in Aculeo, a semi‐endorheic 149 km2 sub‐basin in Chile, debated options for the water scarcity problems they were facing, including their lake desiccation. However, instead of joining forces, discussions around the possibility of recovering the lake generated further conflicts, revealing that it was not a goal shared by all. In this article, we explore the different perceptions and reasons that influenced preferences on restoring or rehabilitating the Aculeo Lake. By collecting, coding, and comparing before and during collaborative process perceptions, we analyzed the perceptions of the proposed Aculeo Lake rehabilitation that are shared among both those who oppose and those who support it. Results indicate that the underlying disagreement was primarily due to differences in shore property rights and lake access, which was also linked to different opinions about land uses in the territory. This research displays how both values and understandings of problems, along with history of a site, can impact stakeholders' restoration preferences and turn into a collaboration challenge.

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Chronicle of an Environmental Disaster: Aculeo Lake, the Collapse of the Largest Natural Freshwater Ecosystem in Central Chile

Cited by 13 publications

References 13 publications

Water allocation under climate change

Water allocation under climate change

Operationalizing the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems in public policy

Restoration perceptions and collaboration challenges under severe water scarcity: the Aculeo Lake process

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