5 changes that are urgent in forestry policy
The fires, which last week amounted to about 400 thousand hectares affected, left pending tasks, such as reformulating the Conaf, studying a territorial ordering and reforesting the burned area. The experts ask to extend the schedule of the brigadistas, train the Armed Forces and raise the sanctions for those who provoke them.
The evening of Monday 30 of January, in the El Sauce sector, in Portezuelo, in the Biobío Region, while the helicopters went away, the wind became stronger and the flames advanced through the hills, the brigadistas left and only the neighbors of the place and some volunteers, with branches and shovels, followed until the dawn the fight against the fire.
«The workday of the Conaf specialists ends at eight o'clock and they are not authorized to work after«explained a Venezuelan volunteer in El Sauce, after commenting that his group had traveled with the idea of operating day and night.
The labor restriction of the brigadistas is only one of the weak points that evidenced the fires, that in less than three weeks they affected more than 400 thousand hectares in seven regions and that they revealed shortcomings of information, coordination between institutions and prevention in the properties and basins, in addition to limitations of the National Forest Corporation (Conaf), for being a private organization.
The first conclusion that union leaders and sector experts repeat is the same: «The magnitude of the emergency exceeded all plans«.
However, specialists in climate change project that these phenomena could be more frequent in the coming years -because of the combination of low humidity, high temperatures and wind-, so the extinction of the fire is just a breath before reviewing what aspects must be improved and how the country will be prepared to avoid another catastrophe.
1. REFORMULATE CONAF
After the rejection of the initiative to create the National Forestry Service in 2012, in replacement of Conaf, President Michelle Bachelet announced at the beginning of February - on her Twitter account - that in March she will send a new bill to create that institution, with the objective of strengthening the functions of the current corporation, in which one of the main changes would be to turn it into a public body.
The executive director of Conaf, Aarón Cavieres, maintains that one of the main changes will be that the care of protected areas will pass to the Ministry of the Environment. «The main emphasis will be placed on the fires and formalizing the work associated with the Undersecretariat of the Interior and Onemi. As discussed, will bring a clear approach that the new service will be the technical body that coordinates resources and order the situation", Explain.
The president of the College of Forestry Engineers, Roberto Cornejo, proposes that the new institutions include new legal tools to demand that certain safeguards be taken in plantations. «For example, measures must be taken to prevent houses from reaching the forests and, where they already are, to be kept clean and not surrounded by garbage, which is what happened in many cases this year.«, he proposes.
However, Cavieres warns that the project will not have a regulatory nature. «It is likely that in the near future it will be necessary to move forward with specific laws for these issues, such as territorial ordering and clearance, but that will not go in this initiative"He maintains.
He also assures that, unlike the rejection that the 2012 proposal had in the Senate, this time they have the support of the Conaf workers in the labor field of the proposal and with greater parliamentary reception. «If society demands this, if the government is pushing it and the workers are in agreement with the gross schemes of labor, I think it should happen very fast«projects the director of Conaf.
2. FLEXIBILITY FOR THE BRIGADISTS
Another urgent change is to make the working day of the brigadistas more flexible and not to limit themselves to an office schedule, since the best conditions to fight the fire are in the morning and in the evening, when the temperature drops.
«Today brigade members are governed by normal labor law and cannot work more than eight hours, within a certain period. Complying with the conditions of rest, shifts and overtime, they should be allowed to continue working ... It is something that has never been taken into account«says Roberto Cornejo.
But Aarón Cavieres clarifies that the issue is not a priority and is not included in the Government's project.
In the sector, they argue that permanent coordination between the different ministries is also needed to provide a more timely response.
«What Chile needs is to have an infrastructure for emergencies, beyond specific cases, with an integrated system«, proposes the president of Corfo's Strategic Wood Program, Aldo Cerda.
Forestry engineer Simón Berti adds that it is key to turn on the alarms on time. «Se must activate the general red alert in the regions when they have conditions of 30% relative humidity or less, winds of 30 km / hour or more, and 30 ° C or more«he suggests.
3. REFORESTATION 2.0
On Facebook and Twitter there are already campaigns to reforest the burned area with native forest, but specialists clarify that the natural species in that area have no economic attraction, and call to take into account what was before and the elements of security and diversity of the environment .
«In the native forest it is necessary to plant endemic trees that are in danger of extinction. In the plantations, they should respect the streams and banks, and restore them with native forest, to reduce drought and prevent fires. You also have to eliminate exotic flammable species and put adequate firebreaks«says the researcher at the Center for Climate and Resilience Science (CR)2 of the University of Chile, Susana Gómez-González.
The president of Corma, Fernando Raga, says that in O'Higgins and Maule it is not economically viable to sustain production with native forest. «The plantations had enough rusticity to settle in eroded areas and one hectare produces between 4 and 10 times more wood", Explain.
Aldo Cerda maintains that territorial planning must be formulated that analyzes new plantations at the basin level. «We have asked to design a wider order, since private logic does not consider externalities«Comments.
4. FOCUS ON PREVENTION
The dean of the Faculty of Forestry Sciences of the U. of Chile, Carmen Luz de la Maza, states that not only must concentrate on control.
«Prevention should be explicit and regulated so that campaigns are valid throughout the year, accompanied by education and budget support. More regulation and oversight, without education, would be to continue with the same«he assures, to which other experts add the need to reinforce prevention in rural areas.
Fernando Raga emphasizes that the plans must be established in the municipalities, as is the case in Spain and the US. «They have detailed urban interface fire prevention programs, and one of our failures was not to count on them«, he specifies.
5. MILITARY SUPPORT
Due to the magnitude of the fires and their extension, the coordination between public services, firemen and volunteers, in many cases, was complex. Some experts attribute it to the fact that there was no single head in charge, and suggest that training groups of the Armed Forces in fire fighting would be a contribution to the future.
«Military support should be stronger, because this time the Army could not be very active. There should be military trained as brigadistas«says Roberto Cornejo.
The director of Conaf supports the idea and recognizes that it would be positive. «Having supplementary resources at critical times is valuable. Without a doubt, an advance in this direction would be good«says Aarón Cavieres.
Source: Revista del Campo
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