* On February 27, 2010 a large earthquake & tsunami devastated our rural coastal program headquarters in Chile's Maule & Bio Bio Regions. Immediately after this disaster we began a grassroots, international humanitarian aid campaign that continues to directly benefit the epicenter's hardest-hit regions. Click here for the latest news about this relief program.
> Click here for a review of our Chile program's 2009 accomplishments.
About our Chile program: Save The Waves and local Chilean partner Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA), a non-profit group of Chile's best environmental lawyers, work through aggressive legal advocacy, water quality monitoring, publicity and education to empower citizens and policy makers to protect the Chilean coast. These efforts are sparking a genuinely grassroots environmental movement in coastal Chile, leading to the robust protection of some of South America's best beaches and surf spots.
This story began in 2006 when Save The Waves launched its Chile program, with the goal of identifying and solving water pollution problems in coastal Chile that were being driven by the forestry industry. STW hired a full-time field manager to implement independent water-testing and create a legal advocacy and educational strategy.
In 2008 this program blossomed into other areas, leading Save The Waves to team up with Waterkeeper Alliance and FIMA to form Maule Itata Coastkeeper, Chile's first member of the Waterkeeper Alliance. This Coastkeeper began operations in early 2009.
The Maule Itata Coastkeeper acts as a coastal advocate and is now responsible for protecting and monitoring the environmental health of the coastal waters and coastline of Chile's Maule and Bio Bio Regions. Some of the critical issues addressed by this program include over-fishing, forestry industry pollution, a proposed coal power plant, sewage, pesticides, over-development from urbanization and encroaching roads in sensitive coastal areas. Maule Itata Coastkeeper launched in early 2009 in Curanipe and covers a geographic region of approximately 100 km of coastline. In the near future we anticipate sustained growth into other coastal regions of Chile.
View 180 South, an adventure film by Chris Malloy that highlights some of the issues we work on in Chile.
For more information about Maule Itata Coastkeeper, please click here.
Learn more about three award-winning films we have produced about our Chile work: All Points South (2009), Pulp, Poo and Perfection (2007), and Keeping Coast (2009).
About Waterkeeper Alliance: The Waterkeeper movement began with fishermen protecting water quality on the Hudson River in 1966 and has since grown to be known as Waterkeeper Alliance, an international grassroots organization of 182 non-profit programs in 17 countries that protect rivers, lakes, coastlines, bays and estuaries. Waterkeepers are part investigator, scientist, lawyer and advocate for a designated body of water. www.waterkeeper.org
About FIMA: Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA) is the leading non-profit environmental law firm in Chile working to preserve the country's natural resources by reducing and eliminating environmental degradation. FIMA represents and assists the citizens of Chile in order to prevent and resolve environmental problems while promoting environmental conservation. www.fima.cl
Visit the external website for Maule Itata Coastkeeper, produced by our team on the ground in Chile.
