By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO, Feb 2 2007 (IPS)

Increasing society’s knowledge about wetlands and improving coordination between the different public services involved in the conservation of these valuable ecosystems are among Chile’s main challenges at the moment, according to experts.

Between 10 and 20 percent of Chilean territory is occupied by wetland ecosystems, which contain and support great biological diversity, expert Elier Tabilo said at the celebration of World Wetlands Day this Thursday, on the theme “Wetlands and Fisheries: Fish for Tomorrow?”

Chileans live surrounded by huge areas of rivers, lakes and coasts that they often do not identify as wetlands, said Tabilo, director of the Neotropical Centre for Training on Wetlands (CNEH).

Chile has nine sites registered on the list of internationally important wetlands compiled under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an intergovernmental treaty signed in 1971 in the city of Ramsar, Iran.

One of these priority sites is the Carlos Anwandter nature sanctuary, also known as the Río Cruces wetland, in the Los Lagos region, nearly 900 kilometres south of Santiago.

Until 2004, this sanctuary was home to South America’s largest population of black-necked swans (Cygnus melancoryphus), numbering about 6,000 birds. But two years later the site was included on the Montreux Register, a list of internationally important wetlands in distress, and therefore eligible for international aid.

In November 2006, Ramsar Convention secretary general Peter Bridgewater visited the sanctuary to draw up a programme of technical advice. Yet CELCO is still pouring waste into the wetland, in spite of scientific studies that confirm its responsibility for the fatal effects on the wildlife.

According to the Convention, wetlands are “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres”.

Each wetland is made up of a unique combination of physical, chemical and biological components, including its soils, water, animal and plant species and nutrients.

In fact, it was the serious pollution of the Carlos Anwandter sanctuary that drew the idea of a “wetland” to the attention of the general public in Chile.

Even more incomprehension surrounds the close connection between wetlands and fisheries. Wetlands are important as mating, spawning, nursery and feeding grounds for fish. Generally, neither decision-makers nor fisherfolk fully understand that wetland conservation is essential in order to be able to go on exploiting fishery resources, Tabilo said.

Biodiversity Programme coordinator Victoria Maldonado, of the non-governmental National Committee for the Defence of Flora and Fauna (CODEFF), agreed with Tabilo, but said that artisanal fisherfolk are becoming increasingly aware of the connection.

In fact, CODEFF is working to conserve the Chepu wetlands, on the island of Chiloé in southern Chile, in cooperation with local fisherfolk who harvest molluscs such as mussels (Concholepas concholepas) and surf clams (Mesodesma donacium).

Extractive fishing and aquaculture, mostly of salmon, are carried out mainly in wetlands in the centre and south of the country.

Chile is the world’s second producer of farmed salmon, after Norway, and salmon farming is a major national development focus. However, this industry was accused of serious environmental and labour abuses last year.

Salmon farmers were criticised for their indiscriminate use of antibiotics, and for discharging nutrients – surplus fish food and organic wastes from the salmon itself – into the sea bottom. These organic waste products have been linked to the appearance of “red tides”, or blooms of toxic algae.

Maldonado was critical of the government’s handling of these cases. She recognised that some progress has been made, but said that the services involved in protecting these ecosystems suffered from lack of coordination.

“The government should establish a unified set of criteria, because each sector has its own different priorities,” the CODEFF activist complained. For example, “while one ministry may be trying to protect the water resources within a wetland, another is paying out subsidies to drain it.”

She also advocated better environmental education in schools. “Local conditions should be incorporated into the curriculum, and the children should be taken out on field trips and be involved in site restoration,” said Maldonado. CODEFF is carrying out this work in 150 schools close to the Toltén basin wetlands, in the southern Araucanía region.

Similarly, it is essential to harmonise and complement all the legislation affecting wetlands, and to train public officials.

All these recommendations are contained in the “National Strategy for the Conservation and Rational Use of Wetlands in Chile” and its Action Plan, which are implemented by the National Wetlands Committee, made up of several governmental and non-governmental institutions and coordinated by the National Environment Commission (CONAMA).

Spokespersons for CONAMA told IPS that in the first half of this year the Michelle Bachelet administration will draw up a national ecotype classification system for wetlands, which will facilitate creating priorities and management proposals for these sites.

In addition, the Aquatic Environments Corporation of Chile (CAACH), also headed by Tabilo, is currently setting up a Wetlands Network.

“Its a citizen’s network for all kinds of people. We know that there are people working for wetlands conservation all over the country: not only universities and study centres, but also local residents’ groups and indigenous people’s associations. The idea is to get to know each other, exchange experiences and strengthen each other and our work,” Tabilo said.

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