The Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts is a nonprofit organization that was created in the early 90s, foreseeing that the social and democratic debt associated to the transition to democracy would be payed through an accelerated extraction of natural resources, which we consider as commons.
Since then we have dedicated ourselves to advise and support communities affected by extractivism, strengthening their management skills in favor of socio-environmental rights, in a context of asymmetric conflictivity.
Our main achievement as an organization has been to remain with the communities, even when the economic survival of organizations with our profile is becoming increasingly difficult. We stubbornly believe in life, in smallness, in our right to live as we wish and not according to the impositions of others upon us. From this perspective we have joined countless territorial defense and valuation processes. Among the most outstanding cases are: the triumph of the Totoral community over Castilla thermoelectric power plant; and the paralyzation of the bi-national mining project Pascua Lama, further opening up public discussion on the urgent need to protect and fully appreciate the value of glacier ecosystems.
Working with these projects implies dependence and a high degree of financial uncertainty, so long-term projections are difficult. We are promoting this campaign to support our work with the help of our peers, through small monthly contributions from those who believe in our work. We aim to expand an "environmental partner" approach to understanding environmental conflicts as a symptom of the civilization crisis that must be structurally confronted from collective leadership.
We invite you to become a part of this world being built, by contributing to our organization as an “environmental partner”, disseminating information related to the various territorial disputes listed on our website www.olca.cl, or letting yourself be open to other ways to connect with these environmental issues... Whatever choice you make, your support will be a vital and valued contribution.
