Posted on enero, 30 2018

WWF Chile valued this milestone for the conservation of nature and called for an emphasis on the main challenges: effective management, financial sustainability and integration of local communities.
 
A great news for nature conservation in Chile and also for the world. Thus WWF Chile highlighted the official creation of the Patagonia National Parks Network, whose decree was signed by President Bachelet.
 
"With these 10 million acres, Chile will protect millenary forests, unique and extraordinary flora and fauna and one of the purest water reserves on the planet. Also, these parks are an important carbon sink at the global level and will contribute to the adaptation to the effects of climate change in Patagonia", says Rodrigo Catalán, Conservation Director of WWF Chile.
 
"The creation of this network of national parks is the result of the great vision of Douglas Tompkins, materialized through the historic donation of one million acres of land by Tompkins Conservation, added to the strong support of the government", says Catalán.
 
"We have great reasons to celebrate, but it is also the occasion to start working on the main challenges that come: the design of a financing mechanism that allows the future sustainability of the network and the effective management of parks to make conservation a reality, with active participation of local communities, which should be the first beneficiaries of this great opportunity", he says.
 
"Addressing these challenges should open a valuable opportunity for collaboration between the government, the communities and also among environmental organizations, as is already being done by the Patagonia Chilena Mar y Tierra working group. This alliance of NGO’s seeks the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems of forests, steppes and wetlands and the marine coastal edge of the Patagonian region".