Chile Drafting Climate Change Law To Protect Natural Resources

Chile's government has announced that it will draft a new climate change law to help combat the effects of the global phenomenon within the country.

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The administration says the drafting of the law will be "highly participatory," taking in opinions from all regions of the country over the next several months.

President Sebastian Piñera's administration announced that town hall meetings will be held across Chile starting in July and will end in December, gathering input from civil society, along with the private and public sectors.

It's expected that the bill will enter Congress in July of 2019. 

In an interview on Friday, Environment Minister Marcela Cubillos said the law will outline how to reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change in Chile.

She said the measure will "establish a climate governance system that will adequately address the challenges imposed by this reality."

The law will include medium- and long-term plans for mitigating the effects of this global phenomenon, because the country needs "to move towards a country more resilient to climate change."

Officials from the Ministry of Environment say the region around Valparaiso is Chile's most vulnerable to climate change, and is already experiencing increased temperatures, droughts and stronger winds.

A recent study by the University of Chile projected that by 2050, Valparaiso's average temperature will increase by 2.2 degrees Celsius during the summer.

Piñera announced the idea for the new law on Thursday at a meeting with the executive director of the European Climate Foundation, Laurence Tubiana, who was also the architect of the Paris Agreement.

"Chile has incredible natural resources, and to protect them you must be progressive," Cubillos said on Friday. 

In order to craft the most comprehensive and inclusive law, Chile must call on the input of companies, the state and non-government organizations, she said.

Chile already has some 14 laws and policies set in place to control its global emissions and pollution. It is only responsible for less than 0.1 percent of the world's carbon emissions, according to Carbon Brief.