
Forest Plantations and Mapuche Health: Chol Chol, Chile
ABSTRACT:
Forest plantations of exotic species pinus radiata and eucaliptus globulus make up over forty percent of the land in the county of Chol Chol, Chile. The forest plantations have grave effects on the ecosystem, including water scarcity, loss of biodiversity, and chemical contamination. Traditional Mapuche culture, whose peoples comprise 70% of the population, perceives health as a product of the equilibrium between the environment’s components. Through the conduction of surveys and interviews of landowners, academics, and businesspeople, this descriptive study aims to highlight cultural transgressions committed on ancestral Mapuche territory by those who participate in the forestry industry and consequent effects on Mapuche health and wellbeing, kume möngen. The results indicate that harm and disrespect towards newen (vital forces) and geh (collective energy that has authority over a space) lead to environmental problems, which are intrinsically related to human health, and cause an obligation to conform to neoliberalist, individualist lifestyles and to propagate the cycle of transgression.
INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
The existence of forest plantations on Mapuche territory is intrinsically interrelated with the history of colonialism and neoliberalism in Chile. Since the arrival of the Spaniards in 1541, there has been conflict between the Mapuche peoples and foreigners. However, the Mapuche peoples enjoyed territorial and political autonomy of their territory, recognized in treaties with the Spaniards, for three hundred years, until they were conquered by the new armed forces of the Chilean republic. The campaign for Chilean “pacification” started in 1862, and between 1883 and 1910, incentives were given to immigrant- colonists to the Araucanía region. European colonists and Chileans from the central valley began to arrive to this region, incorporating ancestral Mapuche territory into the system of capitalist production. The forestry expansion in Chile has its roots in this period of time due to the over exploitation of these lands for wheat production, which deforested vast natural areas. To regenerate the damaged areas, government institutions pushed for reforestation with exotic species.
Today, the Araucanía is the region with the highest density of Mapuche peoples; they correspond to 31.3% of the regional population (19% of the entire country). Despite the fact that Mapuche culture is present in the region, forestry, based in extractivism (the grand-scale removal and exportation of natural resources) is an important sector of the economy; forestry in Chile accounts for 6 billion dollars of exports annually. Extractivism is a manifestation of neoliberalist policies of the state, augmented by the Ley Decreto 701 (1974), which gives subsidies to the forestry industry, a law created under Pinochet’s dictatorship.
Currently, forest plantations make up a surface of 19,9% of the region of Araucanía, and in Chol Chol it is more than 40%. In this county, the presence of native forest decreased strongly since the last census, from 61.37% to 52.95%.
RESULTS:
SURVEY:
A survey was conducted (25 participants) to show the most salient problems in relation to forest plantations. The first open question of the survey was “In your opinion, what are the biggest health threats in this region?”. 24% of the subjects did not answer this question, but 63% of those who did respond made comment related to forest plantations, such as “smoke from forest fires”, “pollution”, and “loss of water”. 76% said that they have personally experienced negative effects of forest plantations. Among the negative effects experienced, 96% selected water scarcity, 80% loss arable land, and 36% spiritual diseases / mental health. Of 60% who said that there are positive effects of the plantations, 60% said that this effect is that it is a source of work. However, forest plantations are not a significant source of work for locals since most employees and administrators come from outside of the community. Among the other “positive reasons” stated, 84% were fallacies, for example, “more nature”, “wild mushrooms”, “provide oxygen”, and “serves as habitat for animals”. 64% of the subjects use medicinal plants, and 64% consider themselves Mapuche.
INTERVIEWS:
To maintain anonymity, the following abbreviations are used: DT1, DT2, DT3, and DT4, instead of names to refer to the four landowners in Chol Chol interviewed. All are Mapuche women who receive water from the water trucks and practice agriculture.
Fifteen semi- structured interviews were conducted to obtain qualitative information. The most mentioned problem that came up during the interviews was the lack of water. In Chol Chol, 19 trucks are required daily to transport water to the rural sector (where 70% of the population lives). The trucks come to the houses once a week, and all of the recipients of the water interviewed say that sometimes the water from the trucks is not enough. Some people use local wells to supplement their water ration, but many of the wells are dry. A lack of water is not just a matter of dehydration; it can also lead to problems with sanitation. “If we do not have water, we cannot bathe, wash our dishes, wash our clothes,” says DT1. A nurse says there may be problems with sanitation, but it is “difficult” to link an outbreak of disease with sanitation problems without an epidemiological study. Water is also needed to irrigate plants and for livestock. Many houses near the Chol Chol River use the river water to fulfill this function (DT2). Some interviewees say that although the river is contaminated, there is no problem with irrigating plants or giving it to livestock, but others say that although there are no immediate effects, and the chemicals present in the water may have side effects in the long run, like cancer (Francisco Garrido, Director of the Liceo Intercultural Guacolda). In addition, transporting water from the river can be expensive because it requires a truck. Both the representative of Aguas Araucanías and the municipality of Chol Chol say that subterranean water, where the truck water comes from, is not contaminated, but there is doubt among the Mapuche people. The representative of Masisa, a forestry company, says “subterranean water, there is a level of pollutant that is reaching the water … it is no longer pure water as was once thought.”
Alteration of the environment is a cultural aggression against the Mapuche people, which is understood as a “capture of the newen, a poisoning or suction of the soul of the Mapuche people that produces the weakening of the lof mapu and lof che” (Bustos, 2016, page 321). Newen is the vital energy deposited by the spiritual forces and ancestors, protected by the Geh, the intermediary beings between people and spiritual forces who evaluate the behavior of the che (person) in their interaction with their environment. Geh spaces include the menoko (a wet space with lawen, medicinal plants), xayenko (waterfall), and wigkul (hill). These spaces are very dependent on water, and even if protected by company or state policies, forest plantations can still affect them, because they dry all of the surrounding land.
The loss or damage of a menoko can be serious for Machis, Mapuche healers. A Machi who lives in Chol Chol, Vivi Picunche, says that there are no longer menokos in Chol Chol, which requires her to go to the mountains to get her medicinal plants. But, as she says, “the land is not the same everywhere,” and according to Garrido, medicinal plants have more efficacy if grown in the place where they are utilized. Picunche also says that she can get sick if she is unable practice her role of being Machi.
The soil is contaminated by chemicals, partly due to forestry. As already mentioned, the chemicals that are present in the water of the river are deposited in the soil when the river is used to water the plants. Another source of pollution is fumigation, a pest control method that completely fills an area with gaseous pesticides, which is used before planting new trees in a plantation. In addition, forest fires, with occur 25 to 50 times each summer, and which were mentioned three times as “the greatest threat to health” in the survey, can damage the soil. Although some fires have natural causes, some are caused by deliberate fires of agriculture stubble (Chol Chol Firefighters). These fires result in a loss of nutrients in the soil. According to the Chol Chol Commune Demographic and Health Profile of the Araucanía of 2013, most medical consultations refer to consultations for respiratory diseases. An inhabitant of Chol Chol interviewed said that forest fires “killed” his brother because he had a respiratory disease and lived near forest plantations. Although the rate of respiratory disease is not definitively linked to forest fires in Chol Chol, the WHO points to “increased asthma and other respiratory diseases” as a possible impact of forest fires. Each interviewee says that today it is much harder to grow organic plants because of the lack of nutrients and water in the soil, and there are far fewer people who “work the land” (DT2) than before. For people who still practice agriculture, they are forced to use pesticides, which damage both the consumer and the soil. According to Mariman, the use of pesticides “feeds the plant more than the soil”. In addition, even if organic plants are grown, the fumigation can contaminate them by the wind (DT1).
The fight against illness is one of the most important components of Mapuche society, which includes resistance to extractive projects (Bustos, 2016), which not only cause an imbalance in the environment but also propagate of neoliberal beliefs: migration from rural to urban areas for economic reasons and an increase in excessive consumption. In addition, the principles of extractivism assume a separation between people and their environment, and a separation between individuals. Küme Felen, wellbeing, on the other hand, refers to collective health, and according to Picunche, “when the earth is altered, people are altered … (companies) fail to measure importance.” All beings are part of a cultural and moral ecosystem, and you cannot separate one being from the other. The che (person) is a symbolic microcosm of the waj mapu in which parts of the body and cycles of life symbolize cycles and elements of nature. A nurse interviewed says that there is a stereotype in Chilean society that the Mapuche are “lazy” because they do not take advantage of the natural resources to obtain profits, when in fact, the well-being of the Mapuches does not result from taking advantage of the environment but being in balance with it. The Mapuches work the land to survive, but now they cannot survive with limited resources and have to integrate and assimilate to the Western world. This has psychological effects, and according to Chureo, “agriculture is more than a job. If one does not cultivate, one becomes depressed … The disappearance of the native forest creates a depression of many Mapuche people” (2015). Forestry results in the marginalization of “non-productive” peasant economies with the consequent increase in dependence and detriment to food security of the Mapuche communities (Bustos, 2016).
CONCLUSION
It is evident that forest plantations have adverse effects on the environment, and that these effects fall disproportionately on the Mapuche population. The land in the Araucanía region is particular to the Mapuche people, and the Mapuche people have a cultural obligation to defend it. Forestry activity prevents the Mapuche people from maintaining an existence according to their own principles, propagating the cycle of transgression and disease. The neoliberal policies of the state, however, have always favored the private development of the land over the well-being of the people.
Although in Chol Chol there hasn’t been much violence due to politics surrounding Mapuche land, many news titles and conversations have to do with the violent conflict between the state (favoring the private sector) and the Mapuche population. For that reason, the forestry problem is an issue that is often reduced to “Mapuche violence”, terrorism and national security, which is ultimately a distraction from the root of the problem: the systematic violence that dispossessed an entire peoples from their land, giving territory and political preference to the private sector: the forest plantations, whose activity denies resources integral to health, education, and wellbeing for the Mapuche peoples as well as the rest of the population who lives in this region. There are many existing studies that demonstrate the damage of forestry from an ecological point of view, emphasizing the environmental consequences of the destruction of the native forest. These studies, however, operate under the logic of Western epistemology, and by excluding Mapuche knowledge their diagnosis and solutions are reductionist by nature. Future studies should aim to highlight the Mapuche perspective, which focuses on the eradication of root causes of environmental problems rather than the treatment of symptoms.
