Geografías legales de los humedales en Chile:

aproximaciones desde tres casos de estudio

Abstract

In Chile there is a growing social appreciation of wetlands, expressed in conflicts and local movements that seek the protection of these ecosystems. The interpretation of a “wetland” definition and its application to different geographical contexts, to determine whether measures for their protection are necessary, has been at the center of these socio-environmental conflicts. We use a legal geography approach based on case studies to shed light on how the Ramsar Convention definition of “wetlands” has been used in three of the main jurisdictional instances for environmental dispute resolution in Chile: application for amparo, the Environmental Courts and the Office of the Comptroller General of Chile. We find that, while the Supreme Court has used a broad interpretation requiring only that an ecosystem meets the Ramsar Convention wetland definition to be protected –regardless of its official protection status– other instances such as the Environmental Courts and the Comptroller General of the Republic have been more restrictive demanding wetland official protection to regulate activities that may affect these ecosystems. This has practical consequences for the legal options and strategies used by those seeking to promote or limit wetland protection.