Following Chile’s Bold Experiment in Land Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration
Land Power “Lessons” Part 2
This is the second part of a series on “Lessons” from my new book, Land Power, on how land can be used today in service of making a better society.
In 2018, Chile minted Patagonia National Park, an ecologically unique gem in the heart of Patagonia. It was part of a deal between the Chilean government and a pair of American philanthropists – Doug and Kris Tompkins – who had worked to purchase 1 million acres of land over several decades for the purpose of conservation. Kris Tompkins offered the land to the Chilean government if it would commit additional public land for preservation and turn the combined areas into a network of national parks in Patagonia. The Chilean government agreed, contributing over 9 million acres of land for preservation and creating a series of new national parks, including Patagonia Park, while expanding several others.
Standing in the grasses of the Chacabuco Valley at the center of the park in January 2018, Chilean president Michelle Bachelet remarked that “This is not only an unprecedented effort of preservation. It is an invitation to imagine other forms to use our land. To create other economic activities. To use natural resources in a way that does not exhaust them. To have sustainable development—the only stable economic development in the long term.”
I visited the park a year ago to see how the experiment was going. Prior to its incarnation as a National Park, the area had long been a vast sheep and cattle ranch, and the local ecosystems had paid a price. The evidence of that history is still there, but it has faded with the elimination of fencing and ranching infrastructure and the recuperation of native grasslands. A few handfuls of visitors drifted in and out, mostly by bike and by bus.
Kris Tompkins told me the story of how she and Doug came to dream about the creation of Patagonia National Park. And I talked to the former Minister of the Environment, Marcelo Mena, who helped to broker the deal between Tompkins and the government while also attending to local considerations. He called the land deal “the most important ecological act of this century” and told me that “it changes the destiny and identity of Chile moving forward toward one of conservation.”
The Costa Rica Conservation Model
Within Latin America, 46% of land area is forested area. A considerable portion of this is threatened by deforestation and degradation. In the last 25 years alone, nearly 250 million acres of forest have been lost. Only 5 countries have increased their forest cover: Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Uruguay. Most of this has come through the promotion of forest plantations. But there is one conservation stand-out: Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is both a likely and unlikely leader in conservation and ecotourism. It is one of Latin America’s most stable and wealthy democracies. But into the 1980s, the country was experiencing rapid deforestation. Then the country did a major turnabout. Through a set of legislative initiatives and considerable investment, it charted a path toward conservation. More than one-fourth of the entire country is now protected as national parks, reserves, and wildlife refuges.
Attracting tourists to experience its natural beauty helped put the country on a sustainable path to preservation and even restoration of native forests. That formula has garnered attention from around the world. With increasing wealth across the globe and threats to natural ecosystems from climate change and development, people are increasingly interested in and can afford to experience nature that is far from their own backyard.
Chile’s Bold Experiment in Land Conservation
Chile has made a bet to follow Costa Rica’s lead. Patagonia National Park is part of a new Route of Parks, comprising 17 National Parks located over 1,500 kilometers between Puerto Montt and the southern tip of South America at Cabo de Hornos. The parks system covers nearly 30 million acres of land. From 2014 to 2018, Chile went from protecting just 4 percent of its land and sea area to protecting 36 percent.
The ecosystems covered in the Route of the Parks are unique to Patagonia and mostly they are well preserved. Expansive landscapes that had been degraded through land settlement
policy and heavy human use are now recovering. The parks also have the southernmost vegetation in the world. And they naturally sequester an estimated 900 million tons of carbon in their soils and plant life.
The Broader Picture
Like Costa Rica, Chile’s experiment in land conservation is turning heads globally. Other countries are taking steps to follow it, even if not at the same scale. It marks an important moment in global conservation and the stewardship of resources and ecosystems for future generations, despite the challenging backdrop of ongoing climate change and environmental degradation.
One of the more interesting developments has been the spread of “rewilding” efforts that aim to restore native species and ecosystems – as has occurred in Patagonia National Park through organizations like Rewilding Chile. Although there have been many piecemeal initiatives along these lines in many countries over decades with individual species or areas, rewilding is now becoming a more comprehensive, global movement. Take for instance Rewilding Europe, which seeks to halt and then reverse the loss of nature in Europe and to restore damaged ecosystems and biodiversity.
A number of countries are also working to institute massive new national parks systems like those in Costa Rica and Chile. China now aims to create the world’s largest national park system by 2035. Canada is establishing large new national parks and seeks to conserve 30% of its land by 2030. Norway is on a similar path.
Of course, national parks and refuges aren’t the only way to conserve land and ecosystems. People can also play a key role in conservation while remaining on the land and using it in a sustainable fashion. Tools like conservation easements can help to ensure the long-term conservation of private land. Indigenous peoples in particular are well versed in stewarding natural areas across the globe in ways that preserve biodiversity and natural resources and that respect the environment, and some countries – like Canada – aim to harness that knowledge by working with indigenous communities to co-manage protected areas.
Note: The leading image is a photo I took of guanacos grazing in the Chacabuco Valley in Patagonia National Park (January 2024).