Water or mineral resource? Legal interpretations and hydrosocial configurations of lithium mining in Chile

Frontiers in Water

Water

Rossella Alba¹  Cristián Flores Fernández² 

[1] Geography Department and Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany;null;

关键词: brine;    mineralized groundwaters;    salt flats;    Andean wetlands;    indigenous territories;    water justice;    environmental impact assessment;    critical legal geographies;   

DOI  :  10.3389/frwa.2023.1075139

 received in 2022-10-20, accepted in 2023-04-12,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The advance of electromobility has boosted global demand and interest in lithium. The consequent expansion of lithium mining puts the sustainability of Chile's Andean salt flats at risk. In these unique ecosystems, lithium is abstracted from mineralized groundwaters, referred to also as brines. This article analyses the legal treatment of brines and its implications in assessing the socioecological impacts of lithium mining projects. For our analysis, we draw from scholarship at the intersection between hydrosocial research and critical legal geography. Methodologically, our study is based on interviews and the analysis of legal texts and judicial and administrative claims, including the environmental impact assessment studies of the three single lithium mining projects approved in the country. We show that the interpretation of brines as mining resources supported by mining companies and endorsed by environmental State agencies is based on a legal loophole. We document how such interpretation is operationalized and contested in the environmental impact assessments of three mining projects and other instances. We explore how the same legal loophole could lead to alternative interpretations and relatedly regulatory proposals and discuss their implication for the assessment of socioecological impacts of mining projects. These include first an understanding of brines as hybrids minerals/waters put forward in a recent report commissioned by State agencies, and second an interpretation of brines as a type of water. The latter is in line with the position of some indigenous groups and academics. We conclude with reflections on the implications of our analysis for lithium mining in Chile and beyond.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Flores Fernández and Alba.