CMPC CEO’s comments on forestry: “It’s not an extractive industry. On the contrary; it is quite renewable.”
In an interview with Radio Infinita, CMPC Companies CEO Francisco Ruiz-Tagle spoke about the sustainability of the industry and addressed the openness to dialogue on the part of the company.
In conversation with the Quién lo diría program on Radio Infinita, Francisco Ruiz-Tagle addressed the issue of intentionality behind the large fires, reporting that, to date, they have filed 136 police reports for alleged responsibility in the lighting of forest fires. “The area is insufficiently secure. As soon as the Carabinero police force and the military were deployed, the number of fires dropped to just two hotspots per day,” he said.
He added that a lot of rumors have been spread about forest plantations because of this catastrophe, explaining the company’s inherent sustainability. “What the forestry industry does is replenish the plantation after the harvest. It all gets replanted. This means it’s not an extractive industry. To the contrary; it is quite renewable.
Furthermore, he was open to discussing how to improve the industry and the neighboring communities and pointed out that efforts should be focused on decentralizing taxes. “Today the VAT and income taxes are mostly paid centrally and this industry has a lot of regional, local and neighborhood activity, so it would be very interesting to make progress in that arena.”
