Criticism of Statkraft in Chile – demanding the return of areas

On Thursday, protesters chained themselves and blocked all entrances to Statkraft, the state-owned power company is the majority owner of Fosen wind, which operates the wind turbines at Fosen.

But it is not only in Oslo that demonstrations are taking place, but also in Chile where several demonstrators from the indigenous population gathered outside the Norwegian embassy in Santiago, reports NRK Sápmi.

Both the reindeer herders in Fosen and the Mapuche people are fighting against Statkraft and demanding back land areas on the Pilmaiken river in southern Chile where Statkraft owns hydroelectric plants.

Demands that Statkraft withdraws

They believe that Statkraft violates human rights and demand that they withdraw from the hydropower projects in Pilmaiken, as the river is considered sacred by the Mapuche people.

In September, a group of Mapuche activists visited Norway.

– It is the Chilean authorities who are responsible, but Statkraft also has a responsibility because they have invested in it, says Eva Maria Fjellheim, researcher at Tromsö University.

Statkraft CEO Christian Rynning-Tønnesen on the question of why they ended up in conflict with several indigenous peoples.

– I think it reflects that when the whole world has to change its energy production from being dominant fossil to dominant renewable energy. Then there will be degrees of conflict in different countries and we must be measured by how good we are at handling this too, he says.

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