After acquiring 300,000 hectares of land in Chile’s Patagonia to create new and unique resources for Chile’s national park system, U.S. environmentalist and multi-millionaire Douglas Tompkins is looking to expand his park-creating fervor across the Andes, into Argentina.

The environmentalist in recent years has bought thousands of hectares of wetlands in los Esteros Ibera ("shining water" in Guarani), a vast network of lakes and 25,000 sq. km in the heart of Argentina’s Corrientes province. The wetlands area is cushioned between Brazil and Paraguay.

His plan, says Tompkins, is to create another national park in northeastern Argentina, much like his Pumalin Park in near the southern Chilean town of Chaiten.

Tompkins says his only goal is to protect the area – the second largest wetlands in South America – and that if need be, he will wage a "green war" against local agricultural interests to make his park idea a reality.  It will be at least a 20 year effort, said the environmentalist. 

But just as occurred in Chile, Tompkins is having difficulty in convincing the locals that he intentions are benign.

Araceli Ferreyra, former representative of the pro-governmen party Head on for Victory (Frente para la Victoria), said Tompkins’ effort to control the wetlands could bring him enormous power in the future.

"It's not just a coincidence that he is buying into areas where there is lots of water,” she said. “I'm not saying that he's going to bring little water bottles or that he's going to take it all right now. But it's certain that water shortages are going to happen all over the world and the wars of this coming century will be over who controsl the water."

Tompkins dismisses the critics:  "Their interests are economical and they have a false idea of what patriotism is about. Look how they treat their own land. It's terrible."

SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
By Santiago Times Staff ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )