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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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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>

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).

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.

OSARA is proud to report that the alumni of its first pilot study abroad program with the University of Georgia in 2005 have used there experience in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve to aspire to new heights. Of the four UGA undergraduate students who conducted their honors theses under the direction of OSARA President Dr. Christopher Anderson, besides winning various awards and scholarships for their theses, all are now in prestigious postgraduate programs, including: Brett Maley (M.S. Warnell School of Forest Resources - UGA), Amy Trice (M.S. Odum School of Ecology - UGA), Clayton Griffith (M.S. Urban and Regional Planning - Georgia Institute of Technology) and William Collier (M.S. Social Ecology of Conservation and Development - Yale University). Congratulations “lab pups”!

On her 60th global voyage, the Peace Boat spent time navigating through the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (CHBR), leading the group’s organizers to want to learn about and donate to the Omora Park’s activities. So while at port in Punta Arenas, OSARA President Dr. Christopher Anderson and Omora assistants Cristóbal Pizarro and Paula Caballero prepared a series of talks and field trips that allowed participants to get a taste of the biocultural conservation initiative being pioneered in the CHBR. The Peace Boat is a Japan-based international, non-profit organization that works to promote peace, human rights, sustainable development and respect for the environment. To see more, go to the official website.

From UNT Research News Highlights >>>

UNT and the Chilean Institute for Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB) are using a 10-year, $15 million grant to build a high-tech field station in Chile’s Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve that will support researchers and students working to protect, preserve and sustain one of the last true wilderness areas in the world. <continue reading>

In a public ceremony presided over by President Michelle Bachelet and Minister of Education Yansa Provoste, the Chilean Science Commission awarded the prestigious “Basal Financing” awards to the 8 institutions chosen as Centers of Scientific and Technical Excellence. The funding will provide 10 years of support and is part of Chile’s Innovation Program meant to promote development in key areas that will affect the nation’s future stability and wellbeing.

Dr. Mary Kalin received the award on behalf of the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, which was also represented by researchers Drs. Juan Armesto, Ricardo Rozzi, Pablo Marquet, Julio Gutiérrez and Andrés Mansilla who represent the IEB’s network of universities, including the Catholic University, the University of Chile, the University of Magallanes, the University of La Serena and the University of Concepción. Part of the new funds will also be used to implement a national network of socio-ecological research sites, taking advantage of the IEB’s 3 existing study sites in the Omora Park-Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Senda Darwin Biological Station and Fray Jorge National Park.

To see an article in Spanish, visit the CONICYT site.