The extensive coast of Chile is home to beaches and wetlands of significant importance for shorebirds migrating across the Pacific Flyway, acting as true refueling stations where the birds can obtain the energetic resources necessary to complete their migrations and life cycles.
Today there are five sites include on the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) where local partners are implementing conservation actions. These sites are, from north to south, the Lluta River wetlands, Maipo River estuary, Maullín wetlands, Eastern wetlands of Chiloé and Bahía Lomas in Tierra del Fuego. Given the importance of these sites the WHSRN Executive Office has been working with the Ministerio del Medio Ambiente de Chile (Chilean Environment Ministry) and local partners towards the declaration and management of Nature Sanctuaries.
Considering the strategic importance of Chilean territory for avifauna, the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente de Chile has begun to develop a National Strategy for the Conservation of Birds 2020 – 2030, which will act as a road map for their conservation over the next decade. Within this national framework, the Ministry and the WHSRN Executive Office will begin a collaborative effort to produce a National Shorebird Conservation Plan over the next 12 months.
Left: A group of American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) roosting at Maipo Estuary and river mouth, WHSRN site. Right: A Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) at Maullin wetlands Photos: Diego Luna Quevedo.
Juan José Donoso, head of the National Resources and Biodiversity Division of the Chilean Environment Ministry (División de Recursos Naturales y Biodiversidad del Ministerio del Medio Ambiente), stated that “our aim is to strengthen the conservation of birds in the country, through a national strategy that actively brings together stakeholders and interested parties with common goals. The collaboration with WHSRN allows us to give greater emphasis to the shorebird component. “
Diego Luna Quevedo, WHSRN Conservation Specialist and member of the Core Group working to develop the National Strategy for the Conservation of Birds of Chile, added that “planning and implementing shorebird conservation at the national level allows us to step down the Pacific America Shorebird Conservation Strategy, and frame the national decisions in the contexts of migratory routes.”
Sanderlings (Calidris alba) spread their wings at WHSRN site Lluta river delta wetland. Photo: Diego Luna Quevedo
Besides the previously mentioned organizations, the Core Group for the National Strategy is made up of Corporación Nacional Forestal (National Forestry Corporation), Subsecretaría de Pesca (the Fisheries Sub-secretariat), Audubon, AvesChile, Centro de Humedales Río Cruces (the Río Cruces Wetland Centre), Centro de Rehabilitación de Aves Leña Dura (the Leña Dura Bird Rehabilitation Centre), Comité Pro Defensa de la Fauna y Flora (the Committee for the Defense of Fauna and Flora), Oikonos, Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile (the Chilean Network of Bird and Wildlife Watchers), Universidad de Chile (University of Chile), Universidad de Concepción (University of Concepción) and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile).
In recent years, the WHSRN Executive Office has facilitated participatory processes for building collective national plans in Ecuador and Peru. In Ecuador we work with in Alliance with our partners Aves y Conservación and el Ministerio del Ambiente en Ecuador (Ecuadorean Environment Ministry). In Perú, we work with el Servicio Nacional Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (SERFOR) (the National Forestry and Wildlife Service), el Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado (SERNANP) (the State Protected Areas Network) and el Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI) in Peru.
For more information on the development of the National Strategy for the Conservation of Birds in Chile, write to the project leader Tomás Altamirano at the Environment Ministry: TAltamirano@mma.gob.cl or our Conservation Specialist Diego Luna Quevedo.
Cover Photo: Mixed flock of rufa Red Knot (Calidris canutus rufa) and Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica) at WHSRN site Bahia Lomas. Photo: Diego Luna Quevedo.
