![\"Peru\u2019s](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/6.-Juana-Rodri\u0301guez.jpg\")
<\/div>There has been a settlement here for generations, the Chancay were an ancient pre-Columbian civilisation who lived here before the Incas. The fishing industry grew in the middle of the last century, and over the years, tourism filled the space in the economy between artisanal fishing for local consumption and the production of fishmeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the more than 60,000 citizens who reside here are divided over the construction of one of the most ambitious projects promoted by the Peruvian government: the mega-port of Chancay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cracked houses of Chancay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Since the movement of machinery began in the first months of 2020, the Mamani Flores family residence has suffered serious damage, including the rupture of a water pipe that flooded their entire house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mamani\u2019s live only 100 metres from a wall that separates them from the land occupied by Cosco Shipping Ports Chancay Peru, the consortium in charge of the project. Underneath this area there will be a 1.8 kilometre tunnel providing a road connection between the consortium\u2019s logistics centre and the port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mega-port of Chancay \u2014 an estimated total investment<\/a> of US$3 billion \u2014 aims to become a hub for trade between Asia and South America. The consortium\u2019s shareholders are Chinese state-owned Cosco Shipping Ports Limited and Peru\u2019s Volcan Compa\u00f1\u00eda Minera S.A.. The latter has a history of committing environmental violations in the Andean regions of Jun\u00edn and Pasco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2016, Peruvian company Volcan, through its subsidiary Terminales Portuarios Chancay S.A., bought land for the mega-port of Chancay through an offshore company, as revealed in a report by investigative outlet Convoca<\/a>. In January 2019, it signed an agreement<\/a> in which the Chinese company became a 60% shareholder of the consortium and it was renamed Cosco Shipping Ports Chancay Peru.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout these changes accusations of damage to the houses continued. In March 2017, a group of neighbours complained<\/a> to local media that a series of explosions and excavations carried out as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) had caused cracks in their houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The National Environmental Certification Service for Sustainable Investments (Senace), the public body in charge of reviewing and approving the project\u2019s environmental impact study, was aware of this situation. This is evidenced by various reports issued by the body since March 2019, accessed through a transparency request. One noted: \u201cthere is disagreement with the project due to the land affectations carried out\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The consortium acknowledged, in documents linked to the modification of the EIA, that the effects of vibrations from its work ranged from \u201calways perceptible\u201d to \u201cstrongly perceptible\u201d for people in the vicinity, confirming the accounts of the port\u2019s neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the complaints the company paid for some minor repairs. These included replacing cracked windows, Di<\/em>\u00e1<\/em>logo Chino<\/em> was told during a visit to more than a dozen homes in the areas where the Mamani\u2019s live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, according to the owners, serious damage continues. and has yet to be addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe location of the project is the problem. It\u2019s going to be a big investment, but how much are we going to lose? Maybe at some point we will have to leave because we won\u2019t be able to live here\u201d, says Miriam Arce, president of the Association in Defence of Housing and Environment of the Port of Chancay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 22 December last year, Senace approved the Modification of the Detailed Environmental Impact Study (MEIAD),<\/a> a requirement for the construction of the mega-port, which had been presented by its backers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cObtaining this approval, through the global environmental certification route, allows the certification to issue all the necessary permits that would otherwise have to be requested from other entities linked to the project, in addition to establishing limited deadlines for the evaluation,\u201d points out Percy Grandez, a lawyer of the Marine Governance Programme of the Peruvian Environmental Law Society (SPDA). \u201cOne of the purposes of this was to have short deadlines, which makes it a route that attracts investment,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The approval of the MEIAD came amid controversy. According to several social and environmental organisations, observations made by the authorities, including a possible impact on air quality and the impact on the Chancay wetlands, were not addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These concerns led Miriam Arce, with the support of other local citizens, to lodge an appeal<\/a> against what would be the first mega-port to be built with Chinese investment<\/a> in Latin America. A second is slated for Ilo<\/a>, in the far south of Peru\u2019s, which would be run by the state-owned China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new port already had an approved EIA, but in February 2020 the consortium decided to extend the area earmarked for the project. The company proposed to extend the cargo and storage capacity of the port infrastructure. This decision necessitated a modification of the procedure before the authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost half a year later, in August 2020, the builders received a list of 114 observations from different national government entities, such as the National Water Authority, the National Port Authority, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, the Ministry of Production, and the National Forestry and Wildlife Service. Fifty of them were submitted by social and environmental organisations, and dealt with aspects related to fauna and the health of the surrounding population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite these observations, four months later, the study was given the go-ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are surprised that all the observations made by other entities have been ignored without further analysis,\u201d says lawyer Carlos Rodr\u00edguez of the National Human Rights Coordinating Committee (CNDDHH), which has been following the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Rodr\u00edguez, the construction consortium plays down the serious environmental impacts of dredging and the discharge of sediment, and also omits the possible expulsion of toxic PM10 and PM2.5 particles that would affect the health of the local population. As the evaluating body, Senace should have looked into these issues as the evaluating body, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biologist Stefan Austerm\u00fchle, director of the environmental organisation Mundo Azul, who carried out the technical review of the MEIAD that supported the residents\u2019 appeal, agrees:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt has only adequately resolved 21 of the 50 observations presented. These are not insignificant issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One hundred and eighty metres from the project is the Santa Rosa wetland, which is protected by the El Cascajo hill. Every month a group of neighbours meet to clean it and remove the water lettuce that abounds on the surface. As well as looking after it, they defend it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The consortium plans to reduce the height of El Cascajo from 80 metres to four. In other words, it will disappear. Although their reports state that they will monitor possible impacts on the wetland<\/a>, the residents of Chancay have their doubts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have to consider the high levels of diversity of species in the wetland. We have found plants that are not found in any other wetland in Lima. What is happening [with the mega-port] is worrying,\u201d says H\u00e9ctor Aponte, a doctor in biological sciences who continues to carry out various studies<\/a> in the Santa Rosa wetland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aponte\u2019s research has led him to conclude that these coastal ecosystems are interconnected, and are important for conserving migratory bird routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The wetland was incorporated into the area of direct influence of the project last December, following pressure from society and similar questioning from Senace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe EIA does not contemplate contamination by the smallest type of particulate matter, or the effects on the wetland\u2019s birds. The company responded with different versions in order to get approval,\u201d says Williams Jurado, coordinator of the Santa Rosa Wetland Environmental Monitoring Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s going to be a big investment, but how much are we going to lose? Maybe at some point we will have to leave<\/blockquote><\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
How much are we going to lose?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/2.-Chancay-li\u0301mite-con-obras.jpg\")
<\/div>Environmental criticisms of the mega port<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Wetlands in danger<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/3.-Humedal_Williams-Jurado_Faena.jpg\")
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![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/4.-Oscar-Mamani.jpg\")
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