The White-Necked Heron (Ardea cocoi), called "garza cuca" in Spanish, gives Cucao its name.
© Hernán Torres
by Marcela Torres
February 2 marks World Wetlands Day and Chilean
authorities used the date to announce the nomination of some sectors of Chiloe
National Park as Ramsar Sites. If designated, Chile would surpass 500,000 acres
of protected wetlands.
Chiloe National Park is located 64 kilometers
from the city of Castro and covers 106,396 acres. The entrance is through the
town of Cucao, from where visitors can go into the park. In addition to the
wetland zone that is being nominated as a Ramsar Site, the park protects other
ecosystems, such as native evergreen forests and beautiful beaches. Here you
can also find some species that are unique to Chile, like the Pudu (Pudu puda), the world’s smallest deer.
Migratory Bird
Paradise
Chiloe Island is known around the world as a
paradise for migratory birds, many of which fly more than 9,000 miles from the
northern hemisphere to reach southern Chile. For example, these wetlands
provide shelter and food each year for the Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) and the Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica). Both species reproduce in North America and are
endangered, among other reasons, because infrastructure development along the
coasts is reducing their habitat and affecting their source of food.
To mitigate these impacts, the Chilean
Government and the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, in the United
States, signed a cooperation agreement to implement joint actions to conserve
Chiloe’s wetlands, as critical habitat for migratory coastal birds.
Ramsar Sites and
Tourism
This year, World Wetlands Day was celebrated by the Ramsar Secretariat emphasizing the link between wetlands and tourism and
the importance that the latter is carried out responsibly. According to the
organization, wetland tourism has benefits both locally and nationally for
people and wildlife. At least 35% of Ramsar Sites around the world record some
level of tourism activity and this percentage is consistent throughout all
regions.
Among other measures, the Ramsar Secretariat
states that ensuring well-managed tourism practices in and around wetlands and
educating tourists on the value of wetlands contributes to the health of the
world's wetlands and the long-term benefits that wetlands provide to people,
wildlife, economics, and biodiversity.
Chile ratified the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, known as the Ramsar Convention, in September, 1980. There are currently 12 wetlands of international importance (Ramsar Sites) in the country, which are distributed
from north to south and cover from High-Andean salt flats to coastal lagoons.
We hope to be able to celebrate soon the
designation of Chiloe’s wetlands as Ramsar Sites and that this will help boost
the efforts to conserve these beautiful places and save migratory bird species
from extinction.
This entry was originally posted by the author on February 2, 2012.
