Conservation in Chilean Patagonia

Conservation in Chilean Patagonia
 AUTHORS: Juan Carlos Castilla, Juan J. Armesto, María José Martínez-Harms
 Year 2021
 Number of Pages: 600
 REVIEW:
 Chilean Patagonia, on the western edge of South America between the Gulf of Reloncaví and the Diego Ramírez Islands, is one of the last places on Earth with extensive pristine environments. With a coastline exceeding 100,000 km, it boasts one of the world's largest marine-terrestrial interface zones. Thanks to a long history of state and private conservation initiatives, over 50% of its land area and 41% of its marine territory are officially protected, making them global reservoirs of natural heritage where objectives such as biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, and climate change mitigation can be tested. However, Chilean Patagonia remains a scientifically understudied region, increasingly subject to significant human pressures, including salmon farming, peatland exploitation, and the development of new access routes to remote and pristine sites. Conservation in Chilean Patagonia: Knowledge Assessment, Opportunities, and Challenges, a unique book of its kind, presents the collaborative work of 67 researchers and a group of high-level experts and reviewers specializing in diverse fields: biology, ecology, socio-ecology, conservation, fisheries, aquaculture, anthropology, economics, geography, tourism, cryosphere, oceanography, and climate and global change. Eighteen chapters compile, analyze, and synthesize scientific and socio-environmental information related to Patagonian conservation. The book also presents perspectives on conservation challenges in different environments, along with recommendations for priorities. It emphasizes the need to increase interdisciplinary research and to establish a comprehensive, operational, and funded network of marine-terrestrial protected areas in Chilean Patagonia, taking into account the coastal marine territories of Indigenous peoples.