Chile's constitutional assembly will start debating dozens of articles on Thursday regarding mining, water and environmental rights that could reshape how the world's top copper producer regulates production of the red metal and minerals like lithium.
"Regretfully, our commission's [full proposal] was rejected," Camila Zarate, an environmental commission coordinator, told reporters after the vote. "We regret that [the assembly] gave its back to citizens, communities, the population and territories that have been mobilizing for years to make these great changes in this constitutional text."
"When it comes to the hydrological sources, basins, they have to be regulated by law and public policy, not in the constitution," Arrau told Reuters after the vote. "If not, how are we going to have judicial and public frameworks that adapt to the variability of water sources?" Constituents were expected to vote on 52 articles including protecting water sources, glaciers and wetlands well into the night. But when voting started, constituents rejected the entire proposal, preventing voting on individual articles and sending it back to the commission for changes.