Energy and Water Policies in Chile, Two Different Endings with Implications in the Water-Energy Nexus

Roxana Bórquez,Rodrigo Fuster

doi:10.3390/en14113286

Abstract

Energy and water have faced important levels of conflicts in the last 20–25 years in Chile. However, the way that they have been politically addressed in the last decade differs. These differences emerge from how these fields have been historically configurated, impacting on how the policy problems and policy options have been framed. Using thematic analysis of 93 interviews and documentary analysis, this article analyzes by contrasting two participatory processes which nourish the formulation of the energy and water policies in Chile in 2014–2015. It seeks to understand the factors that may influence why the development, impact and inclusion of new voices in public policies related to water and energy have been different, and how that can impact the water–energy nexus. Five factors emerge as determinants in this difference: structure of use, number of actors, governance and institutional framework, elite conformation, and legal framework. These factors impacted the policy processes and the scope of the policy outcomes, generating two different results: a long-term energy policy, and a water policy that did not survive the presidential period. Thus, the water–energy nexus is under pressure as a result of the tension between power structures, social responses to environmental issues and decision-making, environmental limitations, and climate change stressors, creating greater vulnerability and conflicts.

Highlights

This article explores the energy and water governance in the transition from a dictatorial regime to a democracy, in order to understand the factors that may influence why the development, impact and inclusion of new voices in public policies related to water and energy differ in Chile, and how that can impact in the water–energy nexus
If we look at the Energy Policy as a catalyst of the Chilean Energy Transition, it would be necessary to analyze it in its totality because an energy transition cannot be reduced to the increase of renewable energy, the decrease in prices and the increase in competitors, mainly focused on electricity
This study shows that energy and water are key resources for the development of a country, both have faced high levels of socio-environmental conflicts in the last 10 to 15 years in Chile, and they both received international recommendations on changing institutional structures of the sectors, the two policies were contrasting in terms of the process, policy outcomes and impacts

Summary

Introduction

The transition towards more participatory approaches becomes a highly complex process in post-dictatorial democracies because authoritarian legacies influence and may frame the policy-making, obstructing innovative and bottom-up approaches in developing policy instruments. Chile is a democracy in which authoritarian legacies are reflected in the transfer of decision-making dominance to the private sector in different fields that, in the past, were the responsibility of government. Local and civil organizations have come to play new roles in influencing and changing the political agenda. These areas are closely related to socio-environmental conflicts

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Discussion

Conclusion