Photo: Eduardo Hernández for Rewilding Chile
President Boric and Kristine Tompkins met on the proposal to create the first National Park for the commune of Punta Arenas
Fundación Rewilding Chile and Tompkins Conservation propose donating a property of 93,492 thousand hectares, Cabo Froward, near Punta Arenas, to create this protected area. This new National Park would contribute to the 30/30 goal assumed by Chile at Cop15, where it committed to increasing the country's protected area by one million hectares.
In a meeting with President Gabriel Boric, representatives of Tompkins Conservation and its legacy foundation, Rewilding Chile, offered to donate 93,000 hectares in the Brunswick Peninsula to the State of Chile to trigger the creation of a future National Park. Kristine Tompkins and Carolina Morgado expressed their desire to see this rich territory protected under the category of a national park, considering in the process all the territory’s actors, including the area’s indigenous communities, as this is ancestral Kaweskar territory. This protected area would be the first national park for the commune of Punta Arenas.
The proposal contemplates the donation, by the Rewilding Chile Foundation of 93,492 ha and the re-categorization by the State of the National Protected Areas, Cabo Forward of 9,888 ha and Batchelor of 24,124 ha. It also seeks to explore the creation of a contiguous marine protected area, which integrates the protection of terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
The property to be donated, Cape Froward, is the southernmost point of the American continent, the last land before the Strait of Magellan. It is 48% covered by sub-Antarctic forests (Magellanic coihue, Canelo, Guaitecas cypress) and 11% by millenary peatlands. Its forests and soils absorb 521 tons of carbon per hectare. It is home to the southernmost population of the huemul and the red canquén, both endangered species. In its more than 40 km of coastline, marine life is abundant and diverse. Thanks to the nutrients provided by the confluence of the Antarctic, Pacific, and Atlantic currents, sei and humpback whales surf its coasts covered by dense kelp forests. There are also species, such as the southern dolphin and the Magellanic penguin, among others.
Press contact:
Fundación Rewilding Chile
María José Sáez
mariajose.saez@rewildingchile.org
Cel: +56998849572