With 5.5 million protected hectares, the 51% of its territory, the area only has 45 park rangers who, according to accusations, even have to use their own money to be able to carry out their work. That is why the GORE is considering requesting the transfer of powers and taking charge of the Protected Wilderness Areas.
Faced with the park ranger strike that hit Conaf, the Regional Government of Aysén is considering requesting the transfer of powers to take charge of the administration of the Protected Wilderness Areas (ASP) in the region.
In the area there are 5.5 million protected hectares, which is equivalent to 51% of the territory, although the resources are not enough to cover all the land nor the needs that arise from this.
“In the In the region we have more than 5.5 million hectares that are Protected Wilderness Areas
and the workers estimate that around three million of them are
abandoned, because the number of park rangers working in the region is not enough to cover everything”, said Governor Andrea Macías.
“Currently we have 45 park rangers and it must be considered that 51% of the extensive territory of the Aysén region is classified as ASP,” he explained.
One of the main demands of the mobilized union is that In the 2023 Budget Law, the Protected Wilderness Areas program presents a 26.3% decrease in expenses for next year, funds that have been systematically decreasing for the past four years.
This decrease in the budget has resulted, as the unions are demanding today, in a lack of personnel and very precarious working conditions for the majority of those who work in the field, according to the regional representative of Aysén of the National Park Rangers Union, Juan Pincheira. .
Park rangers and GORE accuse “abandonment”
“The State ASPs have always been postponed and abandoned, for many years. At this time we can no longer spend out of pocket to do our job. We have had to buy various monitoring equipment, field clothing and footwear, telephone and internet plans and so on, even though we receive very low salaries. In some parts of the region, we even work without electricity or drinking water”, launched the leader.
But that is the same thing that the GORE is considering issuing a request for the transfer of powers to take charge of the administration of Wilderness Protected Areas in the region.
“We have the resources to invest in infrastructure, well-being and
personnel security, unlike what has happened in these years with the administration from the central level. This is something that would be very beneficial, especially in the case of our Region of Aysén,” said Macías in this regard.
“A region that has 51% of its territory as a Protected Wilderness Area does not
You can have so few resources. The vocation of our territory is absolutely touristic and the ASPs are a space that attracts thousands of tourists”, he commented.
Parques de La Araucanía
In the midst of this discussion, the protection of ASPs in La Araucanía has also been part of the discussion.
Of the 101 units that the system has, five parks and six reserves are in the ninth region, to which are added two natural monuments .
In total, these represent almost 10% of the total area of the region.
“Two of the parks, Nahuelbuta and Tolhuaca, have been affected in recent days by fires that destroyed facilities and equipment that Conaf has in both facilities, whose episodes are attributable to the action of violent groups that operate in the area” ;, Senator Carmen Gloria Aravena (former Evópoli – IND) lamented this Tuesday.
For the congresswoman these acts of violence are very serious, “since the integrity of the park rangers who are in charge of caring for those places, the conservation of the country’s natural heritage is threatened, where many parks and reserves are also world heritage sites, and tourism is seriously affected.”
For the foregoing , as president of the Agriculture Commission, Aravena met on Monday with senator José García Ruminot (RN), the national director of Conaf, Christian Little, and the mayor of Angol, Enrique Neira, to address precisely the episodes of violence and eval Use measures to reinforce security in the units, without this implying their closure.