CHILE: Scientist Warns of Threats to Rock Glaciers

[Judi Lynn]

CHILE: Scientist Warns of Threats to Rock Glaciers
By Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, Apr 24 (IPS) - A new government policy on glaciers adopted by Chile "is a step forward, but it doesn’t resolve all of the problems," German geographer Alexander Brenning, who blames mining companies for threats to this South American country’s rock glaciers, told IPS.

An assistant professor of geography at the University of Waterloo in Canada, Brenning spoke with IPS after giving a lecture this week on the little-known rock glaciers to geology students at the University of Chile, who had specially invited him.

The expert drew attention in Chile last year after the results of studies he carried out were reported locally. His research in this country found that three large mining companies were affecting several square kilometres of rock glaciers by building roads and other infrastructure and piling sterile material on them.

Brenning specifically pointed his finger at the Andean Division of the state-run National Copper Corporation (CODELCO), the Los Bronces mine operated by the London-based Anglo American mining giant, and Los Pelambres, a Chilean mining company.

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