OSARA was awarded recently a grant from the US Embassy in Chile to help consolidate the consortium of organizations working in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve. The support will help bring the Vice-president for Global Programs of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) to Chile in October to advise the creation of OSARA as a broader and stronger alliance of US and Chilean organizations. OTS, founded 45 years ago, has become a leader in tropical research and brings together the efforts of 60 institutions on 4 continents to realize this work, making them an ideal partner in our effort.
Author Archives: Darwin
Cape Horn Setting for BBC Adventure Series
In December 2007, the BBC adventure series Serious Ocean filmed during a month-long navigation by boat in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve. The 10 part program premiered on 16 June 2008 in London amid much fan fare. The 8 young adventurers from 13-15 participated in numerous conservation projects throughout the archipelago, including tagging elephant seals and trapping beavers. The program will air in the U.K. and United States and bring the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve to millions of homes in the coming year. For the text version of a news clip with Dr. Christopher Anderson that appeared on national television, visit the following link.
Beaver Control Program Highlighted in Nature
The journal Nature, the world’s leading scientific periodical, recently published a piece on the proposed control/eradication program for beavers in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve. The article now has sparked broader interest, and currently the German magazine Der Spiegel is preparing an article. The articles cite OSARA President Christopher Anderson, who has advised and reviewed the projects and proposals. While acknowledging the challenges and difficulties of such an initiative, Dr. Anderson is quoted as saying “invasive species are an extremely important subject in Cape Horn, which is one of the world’s last wilderness areas. While it may not be feasible to eradicate beavers, it is certainly technically possible, as they were nearly exterminated in North American in the 1800s.” Anderson goes on to point out that “even if it is not possible to completely eliminate problem species in the archipelago, we will learn a great deal our our natural resources by working on binational (Chile and Argentina) conservation programs.” Click here to read the article in Nature.
Tracing Darwin’s Path 3 – A Biocultural Field Experience
Coordinated by OSARA since 2006, the most recent iteration of Tracing Darwin’s Path, held in June 2008, for the first time brought together students from the University of Magallanes, the University of North Texas, the University of La Serena and a staff person from the U.S. Embassy in Chile. Course instructors Dr. Christopher Anderson (ecologist-OSARA) and Dr. Britt Hollbrook (philsopher-UNT) designed the class to provide students with a direct experience of not just studying biocultural conservation, but seeing how our international and interdisciplinary alliance is successfully putting ideas into practice through the implementation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve. Previous versions of the field course have focused on nature writing (2006) and ethnoecology (2007), and the upcoming version (December 2008) will revolve around the theme of “watersheds” – their use, ecology, philosophy and conservation. Students taking part in the experience include such diverse majors as anthropology, journalism, philosophy, psychology, biology, sociology and international relations. To see videos from the course, visit OSARA’s YouTube site.
Intendenta of Magallanes Experiences “Tourism with a Hand Lens”
Eugenia Mancilla, Intendenta of the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region, was able to experience “Tourism with a Hand Lens” directly in the Omora Park in the context of the inauguration of the Chilean Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research Network on Friday, June 13th. Ms. Mansilla presided over the launching of this network, which links research in Cape Horn, Chiloé and the Atacama Desert, in the presence of invited scientists and authorities from Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain and the US. During the week preceeding the inauguration, national and international invitees and dignitaries participated in a week-long workshop entitled “Confronting global change with a long-term socio-ecological research network in Chile.”
More Ways to Visit Cape Horn Online
Recently, the University of Magallanes edited a clip on the concept of Tourism with a Hand Lens to show on their newly created local-access cable station. To see the video, click on the link above. Other recent appearances of Cape Horn online include an Ecological Society of America podcast with Dr. Ricardo Rozzi and other online videos produced by park volunteer Bryan Ruegg.
“Tourism with a Hand Lens” Hits Major Media Outlets
The researchers of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve have been promoting a novel tourism activity in the austral archipelago since 2004 known as “Tourism with a Hand Lens”, a term coined by Dr. Ricardo Rozzi. This initiative attempts to utilize the surprising biodiversity of mosses, lichens and liverworts (the “Miniature Forests” of Cape Horn) in the ecotourism projects being developed by local operators. In 2006, this idea was supported by the regional government via the publication of ecotourism guide books by the Omora Park and then a series of training courses both in Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams.
This week, Chile’s leading newspaper El Mercurio has highlighted Tourism with a Hand lens first in a full page, color article and then subsequently in the Sunday Magazine, which reports Puerto Williams’ potential as a world-class ecotourism destination.
Sustainable Tourism and the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement
In 2004, the United States and Chile signed a free trade agreement, whose environmental cooperation chapter is reviewed annually to define a work plan on related matters between both countires. In the context of the IV Planning Meeting of the agreement, embassy officials invited representatives of the Cape Horn consortium to participate in elaborating this document. OSARA President Christopher Anderson presented to US Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Science Ambassador Reno Harnish and his staff the activities in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve that could be reinforced by this treaty, including setting goals for sustainable ecotourism, capacity building of park administrators and creating volunteer programs to improve infrastructure. Working together with staff from the US Embassy, the State Department and the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, OSARA will continue to promote these concepts with the goal of linking conservation and sustainable development in the extreme south via this binational agreement.
Cape Horn Headlines Student Symposium
The University of North Texas’ Biological Student Association held its annual Research Day on April 19th, inviting OSARA President Dr. Christopher Anderson to give the keynote address. This year’s symposium, coordinated by Benjamin Lundeen and inaugurated by UNT VP for Research Dr. Vish Prasaad, was the first time that the event sought to reach out to other departments and become a more interdisciplinary venue for undergraduates and students from other disciplines to participate.
Dr. Anderson’s talk, entitled The “Southern Summit’s” Relevance for Biocultural Conservation, was meant to provide a model for UNT’s students and faculty. It showed how the process of creating the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve has been a long-term, interdisciplinary project that has linked research and society since 2000. The success and significance of this approach to science, research and conservation was apparent and the continuing committment of the university was provided by high officials to strengthen and expand this annual symposium. In addition, some of these very same students will participate in the Tracing Darwin’s Path field course in Cape Horn in June and December of this year.
Cape Horn Highlighted by “Solutions for Our Future”
The American Council on Higher Education has highlighted the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve in its “Solutions for Our Future” section. The feature story notes that the US-Chile consortium, including UNT and OSARA, works to study and conserve one of the world’s last remaining wilderness areas. It also recognizes the importance of the new “Basal Financing” award obtained by the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity.
“Carpintero” Inaugurates the Academic Year for Ecotourism Students at Andres Bello University
Ximena Arango, Omora Park Local Coordinator, recently gave the inaugural talk for the academic year at Andres Bello University’s Ecotourism Program at Vina del Mar. Arango’s lecture on the Magellanic woodpecker (“carpintero”) as a charismatic flagship species of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve demonstrates yet again that the wings of this great bird provide the perfect vehicle to “transport” the biocultural conservation activities of Cape Horn to the rest of the world. For more information (in Spanish), visit the UNAB’s website.
International Reach
The UNESCO Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve served as the classroom for UNT biology major and OSARA Project Assistant Kelli Moses over the winter break. The course she took included UNT and University of Magallanes students from disciplines such as anthropology, journalism, biology, philosophy, art and conservation. <to continue>
Innovating from the “South” – The Integration of Environmental Ethics and Ecological Science
The scientists and philosophers involved in the creation and implementation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve are firmly committed to putting their research into practice. Part of this work involves the definition of the new trans-discipline of “biocultural conservation,” which requires overcoming significant challenges such as “translating” between academic disciplines, languages, cultures and ways of perceiving the world.
In this effort, Drs. Ricardo Rozzi and Francisca Massardo, as well as others from the CHBR, have been working for the past few years to create a seminal body of work that will serve as a foundation for environmental philosophy in Latin America and for biocultural conservation in general. Now a special edition of the journal Revista Ambiente y Desarrollo has publish these texts in Spanish and included commentaries from well-known thinkers from the realms of policy, ecology and philosophy from throughout the Americas and Europe. To learn more visit the CIPMA website, download the pdfs from the journal directly with the link above, or read the Introduction (in Spanish).
Cape Horn Research Highlighted in ESA Journal Cover Story and Podcast
Dr. Ricardo Rozzi and colleagues’ article in the April edition of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment has already received attention in various news outlets.
Now, in addition to achieving the cover of this highly prestigious and widely distributed journal, Dr. Rozzi has been interviewed for an ESA podcast that highlights the journal’s most important publications.
The attention Rozzi and his colleagues bring to bear on the previously unrecognized biodiversity found in non-vascular flora in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve is used as an illustrative example of how cultural viewpoints (“lenses”) influence not only what we study and value, but what we chose to prioritize and conserve.
To learn more, visit ESA, read the article or listen to the podcast.
See local press in Radio Polar.