Background information: Within the framework of the Expansion of the Cerro Pabellón Geothermal Power Plant project, approved on June 28, 2019 by the Environmental Assessment Commission, under Environmental Qualification Resolution No. 0118, and Enel Green Power S.A.’s sustainability area. Working committees were generated with the communities involved in the project (Cupo and San Pedro Station) in which the implementation of community environmental monitors were established whose objective is to ensure that the environmental measures committed in the Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA) of the project are met with the committed standards. The project, located in the Loa Province, approximately 134 km from the city of Calama in the Antofagasta Region, was environmentally approved by RCA No. 0118/2019 and its construction phase began on August 23, 2019. This project constitutes an expansion of the project initially approved by RCA N ° 86/2012 and increases the installed capacity of the plant by 35 MW.
Introduction: A community monitor is understood as an individual, from an indigenous community, declared within the project area, whose objective is to advise, observe, and monitor, with cultural relevance, the execution of the commitments acquired in the Project's Environmental Qualification Resolution committed by Geotérmica del Norte S.A. This work also seeks to generate skills for the same people, who will be trained in the topics of interest in order for the indigenous communities themselves to be the ones who carry out the monitoring of those issues that they establish as priorities and whose impact on the territory is direct for the individuals. In this way, local human resources are strengthened, with the aim of generating trust between the company and the communities. It will be the communities themselves who elect people to represent them and play the role of community monitor. These people should be chosen under the criteria of trust, leadership, commitment to the community, and interest in the subject. Once the individuals have been selected, they will be trained in order to comply with the environmental commitments of the following areas:
- Flora and Vegetation, Fauna, Scenery, Archeology, and Infrastructure
In this way, a team of indigenous monitors will be trained who will provide the advisory service, monitoring, and culturally-relevant verification of the execution of the environmental commitments by the GDN professionals, carrying out advisory service in the archaeological and environmental monitoring of the project.