In my recent visit to Chile, I was able to review that there are more than 9 thousand sites with potential presence of contaminants, 600 of them in urban areas, according to the figures of the National Soil Cadastre whose report was updated in 2022. These are territories that are generally referred to as environmental liabilities, relegated to disuse, if not to the generation of landfill areas and further degradation of the environment.
But many of these spaces were part of relevant periods of industrial development in previous centuries, contributing to the city poles of high productive activity, which then urban vocations, new technologies and, especially, the growth of the same population have forced to transform and migrate to new identities.
So what can be done to ensure that these soils, which were once key to development, are not relegated to oblivion or become part of the dark spots of development? The key lies in what has been done for decades in Europe and elsewhere: investing in remediation. Soil remediation is the key to recovering an essential natural resource, the basis of life as we know it.
Chile does not have a regulation that promotes or even obliges sanitation, so all projects along these lines respond to the will of those who assume these tasks. The lack of parameters and regulatory framework today means a long road ahead for those who want to promote a sanitation project in the country. Proof of this are the processes that initiatives such as Las Salinas in Viña del Mar or the project promoted by Ferrocarriles in Antofagasta have had to face, both urban soils with traces of contamination of different origins and which are waiting to be reintegrated into the new uses of the city.
How can Chile take a step forward in this area? It is clear that, from the number of degraded industrial sites, there is a need to restore with robust regulations, as in other countries, and to generate proposals that integrate the urban growth of cities to new activities. This is the case in places like Spain, where I am a native of and where I have lived most of my life, where knowledge is adapted to the reality of each place to offer sanitation and development alternatives to contaminated spaces due to their past use.
The industrial activities of cities make sense if we position human evolution in due time; however, today they represent a pending balance with nature and citizenship. In this sense, there are good techniques for the remediation of these areas that are safe and environmentally friendly, such as bioremediation.
But there are still steps to be taken and having a relevant conversation is a way to solve the permanent demand for land that Chile faces, and thus provide spaces for housing, cultural facilities, green areas, sports infrastructure or the use that citizens desire and that is most beneficial for the good development of the city. At the same time, we would be responding to the urgency of not continuing to maintain the so-called ‘environmental liabilities’. The invitation is to continue moving forward so that these needs are transformed into opportunities and not pending matters.
Germán Monge.
Partner-Director of Development of the Sustainable Land Management business line of the IDOM Group.
