By Felipe MartinCEO of MS Natural Resources.
Felipe Martin.
In Chile we like to see what they are doing overseas and in general, we consider countries like Australia and New Zealand to be benchmarks in public policy design. For example, the case of Australia is a model for water management that has been developed in recent decades to meet increasing demand and ensure long-term sustainability of the resource.
In the early 1990s, Australia began a series of reforms to improve the management of water resources, as a series of problems related to the high demand for water began to appear; for over-allocation of rights, which affected various sectors of the economy during periods of drought; And finally, the establishment of water tariffs that did not guarantee efficient use or were used where it has the highest use value. In addition, resource overuse caused environmental damage, in particular biodiversity issues, which compromised agriculture and human consumption.
All of these problems involving the effects of climate change and global warming prompted Australia to set its foot on the accelerator to improve water resource management, emphasizing four points: water markets, environmental considerations, water rates and institutional change. .
One of the main Australian policies was the creation of a water market, the most important change being the separation of water rights from land ownership, so that water would be located on unproductive land, either due to soil quality or the inability of producers.
The second major reform was to revise water tariffs, with the aim of requiring users to pay for the actual cost of the water and service companies to be economically viable.
Australia: a reference model for the rest of the world
Australia’s water management model, which is currently considered a benchmark for the rest of the world, shows that public policies should be designed efficiently and above all, evaluating the impacts on various actors and productive industries .
For that reason, it seems inexplicable that the convention and the draft constitutional resolution restrict the commercialization of water resources, limit their use and over-guarantees indigenous peoples to the detriment of the rest of the Chilean people. In this way, thousands of productive industries that have invested in recent years are getting affected and at the same time it will be a serious blow to employment.
It is difficult to understand that our constituents have not reviewed and analyzed such successful cases in water management as in Australia and Israel. On the contrary, many of them chose the old view that contributed little or nothing to Chile’s development. This world seems upside down.
Agriculture Water Summit 2022
On August 4, 2022, the first edition of the Agricultural Water Summit (AWS) will be held at the San Monticello Hotel convention center located in San Francisco de Mostazal, Chile.
The Krishi Jal Summit will be an event that will create a space for interaction, where diverse actors from the fruit and vegetable sector can meet and work on water problems and challenges.
Collaborative examples where the various links of the agro-industry chain meet are essential to be able to emerge in times of water adversity.
For information about booths or sponsorship opportunities for the event, contact Natalia Castillo at [email protected] Don’t run out of your ticket pre-sale price. Visit our website https://www.agwatersummit.com/
