Assignment 1Sofa Muzzio Gorrini

To answer the question that if Chile has laws that are designed to insure weak sustainability of copper mining we first need to understand what does sustainable development means. Nowadays, many people use this concept but not all of them in a correct way. We will understand by sustainable development as the one that provides the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. But, two central paradigms of sustainable development have emerged since; these are weak and strong sustainability. I will focus on the first one, which assumes that: intergenerational equity is reached by maintaining a constant level of total capital, where capital is understood as: nature's capital, human capital, human-created capital, social capital, and cultural capital. As a consequence, natural capital can be consumed as long as parts of earnings are reinvested.

Since 20th century, copper exporting has been the main source of income for the Chilean economy. So, as our economy depends on the extraction of this non natural resource, it would be logical that our country worry that this will not be exhausted in the future, because that will probably means an economic crisis and a worse quality of life for the future generations. In order to avoid the above, the Chilean government has implemented a series of laws and regulations for mining operators that regulate their behavior, looking for good practices with the environment that insure weak sustainability of copper mining.

There are 2 laws that relation to what we are talking about. In one hand there is the Ley N 19.300, which is the basic law of the environment, and talks about sustainable development in a general way. More specifically, Chile has Ley N 20.026, which establishes a specific tax on mining, referring to the copper, we will find that the tax has the name of royalty. The income collected by this tax is supposed to be destined to one of the capitals that are different from the natural (for example: it can be invested in education, which is human capital) in order to maintain a constant level of total capital; so, as the level of natural capital decreases, theres another that is supposed to increase in the same amount. And thats the point; its supposed to increase, because theres nothing that will make sure that the investment that the government will make in another type of capital will generate the necessary amount to reach our constant level. Finally, the answer to our question cant be answered by a yes or no, Chile has laws that are designed with a sustainable development target, but these dont insure that Chile will reach it, it will depend in the government actions and the results of these.