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> Chile’s Water Code was established during the Pinochet dictatorship, and still treats water as a replenishable (rather than increasingly scarce) natural resou
by redahs 8y ago
> Chile’s Water Code was established during the Pinochet dictatorship, and still treats water as a replenishable (rather than increasingly scarce) natural resource. Under the code, companies may trade water rights to the highest bidder
If there's a bidding process already in place, the Chilean government can charge companies the bid value annually as a public natural resource rent, and place the tax revenues in a permanent fund for conversation efforts. Instead of calling a river a legal person, a formal government charted corporation can be created for the river to distribute revenues from taxes on water right holders in a pro-social manner. This would be somewhat similar to 'Cap and Dividend' proposal for climate change.