State-NGO collaboration expands protection for Patagonia’s biodiversity hotspot

In the southern Argentinian province of Chubut, in the pristine region of Patagonia Azul, arid grasslands give way to steep cliffs, rocky beaches and dense kelp forests, creating a rich and biodiverse habitat, with humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and sei (Balaenoptera borealis) whales as well as South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) among the megafauna that visit the area for food and breeding.

The region is also home to around 40% of the world’s population of Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus), along with more than 50 species of seabirds, including southern giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus) and imperial cormorants (Leucocarbo atriceps).

The area is now receiving important extra legal protection following the creation of the Patagonia Azul Provincial Park by the Chubut provincial government, using land donated by Rewilding Argentina, a conservation-focused NGO. The park covers almost 300,000 hectares (740,000 acres); about 87% of the area is marine habitat, all of which has been designated a no-take zone, helping to address local impacts of industrial fishing and bottom trawling.

The park also includes more than 60 islands, important macroalgae forests and rocky intertidal zones that provide a haven for fish and marine invertebrates to develop, while its formation also bolsters existing efforts to protect the area.

In 2013, the national government established the Southern Patagonia Interjurisdictional Coastal Marine Park, to protect the region’s marine ecosystems and wildlife, and in 2015, UNESCO designated the Patagonia Azul UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Covering more than 3.1 million hectares (7.6 million acres), with 300 kilometers (186 miles) of coastline, it is the largest biosphere reserve in Argentina and the one that contains the largest expanse of ocean.

Globally, UNESCO recognizes nearly 800 Biosphere Reserves. Biosphere status brings increased international visibility to an area’s ecological value and looks to help integrate conservation with the sustainable development of local communities. However, rather than bringing its own specific legal protections, a biosphere status is designed to complement existing regional conservation policies. But with budget cuts and a lack of political will, it’s a model that can be hard to implement.

To kick off efforts in Chubut, Rewilding Argentina began working with the provincial government, local communities and other NGOs to create the new provincial park, explains Mariana Cassini, local community and communication coordinator at Rewilding Argentina.

Using a model previously used in other key biodiversity hotspots, including the El Impenetrable National Park in Argentina’s Chaco province, and the wetlands of Iberá, in Corrientes province, Rewilding Argentina bought land around the existing protected area, creating a buffer zone, which they then gave back to the state in return for increased legal protection, she says.

Across the Patagonian Steppe, many ranches, or estancias, have been abandoned as sheep farming has steadily declined, from a peak of around 22 million sheep in the 1950s to around 12 million today.

As part of its strategy, Rewilding Argentina bought three abandoned ranches and, while two now form the main body of the park, a third, San Miguel, was given back to the state. Covering more than 18,000 hectares (44,000 acres), with 30 km (19 mi) of coastline, it is now the main entrance to Patagonia Azul Park; in return, the government of Chubut granted the whole area Provincial Protected Area (PPA) status. This reinforces the importance of the biosphere reserve, Cassini says, as the biosphere status is just a declaration. “It’s not a law that actually protects.”

In a written response to Mongabay, Nadia Bravo, undersecretary of conservation and protected areas of the Ministry of Tourism and Protected Areas of Chubut, states that the park “will undoubtedly have positive effects” on the Patagonia Azul Biosphere Reserve, by increasing its legal protection and helping to create a stronger management plan. “It is the first time that a series of definitions and actions have been generated in order to strengthen conservation and move towards efficient governance,” Bravo writes.

According to Santiago Krapovickas, coastal and marine projects manager at Wildlife Conservation Society Argentina, the creation of the park also encouraged the provincial authorities to support a ban on industrial fishing, something they had previously been reluctant to do. Chubut has recently started to grow its shrimp fishing industry, too, and for the first time, the fishing authorities “are understanding that protected areas are a good strategy for telling a story about sustainability … [and] maintaining a healthy fishing stock,” Krapovickas says.

Nature-based tourism will also support conservation in the park. Alongside a biological station and improved monitoring facilities for rangers, Patagonia Azul includes new camping areas, access for tour operators and new coastal trails. More tourism in the park could create 445 jobs over a period of 10 years, while bringing up to $8.5 million per year into the local economy, research from Rewilding Argentina shows.

Bravo says Patagonia Azul “has the potential to become an engine for tourism and economic development for the region. Tourism in protected natural areas is recognised as a key tool for economic diversification, as it generates employment at different levels … from to guides to personnel in hospitality, transport and gastronomy.”

While Argentina may have more than 4,000 km (2,485 mi) of coastline, it has never been a maritime nation, and people have looked inland rather than to the sea, Cassini says. The park will help change this by giving more local people access to the coast through land that was previously privately owned, encouraging them to value it, she says. If people don’t have a relationship with the landscape, Cassini adds, “then they won’t support long-term conservation.”

Krapovickas says that in the face of budget cuts, expecting provincial authorities to cover the costs of conservation is simply not practical. “We have lots of difficulties maintaining public polices in the long term,” he says, which is why he supports any opportunity for different authorities and conservation groups to work together.

Bravo says the model of NGOs buying private land and then returning it to the state in return for new legal protections could work on a wider scale, reflecting that conservation funding mechanisms needs to adapt.

“The state has to work and plan its territory hand in hand with the private sector, based on the generation of alliances. The state sets the rules, based on sustainable development, and the private sector generates competitiveness,” she says.

UNESCO supports the reserve’s collaborative management.

“The governance arrangement in Patagonia Azul, bringing together government, NGOs, philanthropic partners and, crucially, local and Indigenous communities, is very much in line with the biosphere reserve model… [and] this kind of multi-level partnership is exactly what UNESCO seeks to encourage across the network,” a spokesperson for UNESCO wrote in an email to Mongabay. “It ensures that conservation and sustainable development advance hand in hand, with communities at the center of decision-making.”

This local connection is vital, says Krapovickas, because funding and NGOs can come and go according to priorities. “The human dimension of this must be taken into account,” he says. Local communities need to be part of the project because “they will have to implement the conservation when the NGOs disappear.”

Banner image: Magellanic Penguins at Punta Tomba, Argentina. Image by Mark Hillsdon.

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