Huapi island / © CONAF-FAO
Huapi Island and the environmental problems for the Mapuche people
At the center of Lake Ranco in the commune of Futrono, 900 km south of the capital, Santiago de Chile, is located this impressive 815 hectares of surface known as Huapi Island. This small island of impressive nature and beauty lays in a remote area in the south of the Andes, which is only reachable using the local ferry, the Epu Huapi, which means Two Islands in the local Mapuche Mapugundún language, and which makes this 50 minutes journey only 2 times a day.
The island is home to around 150 families, 99% of whom are of Mapuche Huilliche descent, which means Southern Mapuche in Mapudungún, and who persist in preserving their traditions and history. Each family on the island determines the vocation and productive organization of their land, where livestock and agriculture are the main economic activities, followed by the production and processing of firewood for self-consumption and exchange. From the native forest, fruits and mushrooms such as coulles or maqui are traditionally collected, the latter a superfruit packed with antioxidants and, and intended for both self-consumption and exchange within the island. Or the boqui, used to produce crafts and/or basketry, or wood from species as boldo, a native species of the Chilean forest and which is often preferred for the production of fence stakes, and whose fruit is used for self-consumption and its leaves for internal consumption and export for infusions.
Some families, especially younger generations, dream of recovering the island's scenery beauty through the restoration of the native forest, with a view to potentially diversify sustainable livelihoods, such as ecotourism.
Contemporary Mapuche society is characterized by its diversity in terms of land ownership, territorial autonomy and governance, which in turn influences their relationship with the Chilean State, as well as their relationship with forest resources, and the ancestral and cultural legacy in the territory they have historically occupied. Currently, more than 2 million Chileans self-identify as belonging to an indigenous people group, of which 1.7 million identify as Mapuche, either at the family or community level. Indigenous peoples in Chile represent around 12.8% of the total population, with the Mapuche people being 79% of the country's total indigenous population and 9.9% of the total Chilean population (INE, 2017).
For the Mapuche people, the care and respect for certain natural landmarks, animal and plant species, and ecosystems with symbolic value is essential for the continuity of their cultural practices and knowledge, which are shared from generation to generation. Mapuche Huillicheo families on Huapi Island, such as that of Anita Neguimán Antillanca and her mother, Telma Antillanca, are restoring their land with native trees such as the laurel (Laurelia sempervirens), a species with symbolic value for their people, and with this, they seek to preserve their comovision and relationship with the forest.
Chile’s National Strategy for Climate Change and Vegetational Resources and the participation of indigenous peoples in climate action
Landscape of silvopastoral systems with the presence of hualves or swampy native humid forests.Photo Credit Oscar Concha
Indigenous and tribal territories in Latin America are home to approximately a third of the continent's forests, playing a crucial role in climate stabilization and biodiversity conservation. These forests store nearly 34 billion metric tons of carbon, almost 30% of the carbon in the region's forests. However, they face significant threats due to forest loss and degradation. FAO’s 2021 report on indigenous and tribal peoples and forest governance in the region highlights the importance of indigenous peoples in protecting tropical forests and preserving vital ecosystem services, and international declarations, such as the New York Forests Declaration and Glasgow Declarations, recognize the need to guarantee communities' access to financial assistance in a way that fosters their contribution to mitigation and adaptation to climate change and the preservation of biodiversity, while contributing to the respect and protection of their rights, knowledge and traditional practices.
Mapuche Huilliche families of Huapi Island have historically faced environmental and development challenges such as the loss and degradation of native forests. Once a diverse forest of oak (Nothofagus obliqua), raulí (Nothofagus alpina), coihue (Nothofagus dombeyi) and laurel, due to logging, livestock and agricultural activities, this landscape has been transformed into remnants of native forest in small sectors of the island, and with the significant presence of exotic species, such as eucalyptus. The progressive process of loss and degradation of the native forest has resulted in erosion of the soil and the loss its’ water retention capacity, and overall, in a reduced availability of water for human consumption and crop irrigation, especially in the summer months, turning the island and its population more vulnerable to climate change. Although the island has historically been characterized by a high presence of native species, such as oak, raulí, and coihue [laurel and lingue], due to the process of degradation and deforestation this diverse landscape has been transformed into remnants of forests in small sectors of the island, putting at risk the continuity of the intangible Mapuche heritage. Actions for restoration and sustainable management of the native forest are urgent.
Under the umbrella of Chile´s National Strategy on Climate Change and Vegetation Resources (ENCCRV), a public policy geared at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from degradation and deforestation by 20% by 2025 compared to 2001-2013 levels, through the sustainable management of vegetation resources in at least 264,000 hectares in the period 2017 and 2025, since 2020 the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) has been reinvesting REDD+ results-based finance. Leveraged from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and its REDD-plus pilot program, Chile secured a total of USD 63,607,552, in recognition to the emission reductions achieved at the subnational level in the period 2014-2016 as a result of national efforts, and with readiness technical and financial support of, inter alia, the UN-REDD Program. With the support of FAO, CONAF is currently reinvesting REDD+ results-based financing both in the territories and strengthening its institutional framework for the sustainable implementation of its ENCCRV. This is known as the +Bosques Project.
To date, the results-based financing accessed by Chile through CONAF is being distributed efficiently and transparently with local actors in the territory through the ENCCRV´s Benefit Sharing Plan (BSP). The objective of the SDB is to distribute resources in the territory through the implementation of projects that enhance the benefits associated with the reduction of emissions or the increase of removals, as well as other social and environmental benefits derived from the goods and services of forests. To do so, the SDB has been designed to prioritize actions that address the social and cultural vulnerability of indigenous peoples, underpinned by a landscape, social inclusion, intercultural and gender approaches, operationalized through dedicated evaluation and prioritization variables: ecosystemic, gender, territorial and socioeconomic.
Thus, the SDB seeks to serve as an effective, efficient, equitable and transparent instrument for reinvesting forest carbon financing, providing capacities and technical inputs to Mapuche families and communities and other Indigenous or Originary Peoples to protect and restore native forests and promote the sustainable management of their lands, in a way that considers their worldview and at the same time strengthens the resilience of forest landscapes and rural livelihoods.
To date, through the +Bosques project, CONAF has participatively designed and awarded 861 projects under the SDB of its ENCCRV, equivalent to 14,000 hectares under restoration or sustainable forest management, directly benefiting over 2,100 people identified as belonging to Indigenous or Originary Peoples, including women.
Huapi Island: Strengthening environmental and the Mapuche people´s resilience
Anita Neguiman and her mother Telma Antillanca, beneficiaries of the + Bosques project, on their property on Huapi Island
© CONAF-FAO / Pilar Cárcamo
The project “Recovery of the Native Forest on Huapi Island” started in 2021, and has been characterized by the active participation of Mapuche Huilliche families of the island, both during the design and the implementation of the project. This native forest recovery project on Huapi Island is carrying out afforestation and native forest restoration activities with 7 families on around 8 hectares, and approximately 5,600 plants of native species have been planted so far.
This project is not only facilitating native forest restoration efforts with the Mapuche Huilliche community, reducing their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, but is also enhancing livelihoods, knowledge and practices associated with forest products and services. Anita Neguimán Antillanca and her mother, Telma Antillanca, live in the northern sector of Huapi Island and give voice to all those who opted for sustainable management of their native forest, with a vision of recovering and protecting the lands and forests of their ancestors. From her core family, made up of her mother and sister, Anita was the one who made the decision to manage the land, assuming tasks that were traditionally men's work, as she defines it.
Anita learned to chop wood, use a chainsaw and other machinery, and to restore her forests, all of this with the technical support of CONAF and its +Bosques Project, in an innovative and inspiring role in the Chilean forestry field that has traditionally been a men's activity.
The territorial implementation of +Bosques is carried out in an area with high ecosystem diversity and where a large number of indigenous communities and families live, particularly from the Mapuche people. Under the leadership of CONAF with the support of FAO, a series of procedures and instruments have been developed for the territorial implementation of the project, which together seek to ensure that all activities implemented on indigenous peoples' lands are carried out in full respect of their rights, culture, knowledge and practices, as well as their territorial and development vision, and their traditional decision-making processes, in coherence with the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Anita and other families of the Mapuche Huilliche Indigenous Peoples are bringing the rich variety of plant life back to their ancestral lands using native trees, like laurel. © CONAF-FAO / Pilar Cárcamo
The Isla Huapi project illustrates the importance of participatory and consultative processes to guarantee the sustainability of restoration actions and climate action, by ensuring that the needs and vision of families and communities are respected and incorporated since early design stages under the SDB. The on-going collaborative and participatory process with Mapuche Huilliche families in Isla Huapi allowed them to decide on the type and places of intervention, on native species to be used, and ultimately facilitated an agreement with families to implement forest actions on the ground themselves. The latter not only generated local employment but also built local capacities to carry out forest activities. Hand in hand with the regional team of CONAF and +Bosques, the families on Isla Huapi have strengthened their technical capacities in forestry activities, from building fences with the appropriate material and measures to protect native trees from cattle, hares or rabbits and other animals, to the management and planting of coihue, oak, laurel, hazelnut (Gevuina hazelnut) and lingue (Persea lingue) seedlings, ensuring the precision and care necessary to ensure the success of the restoration activities.
Anita and her mother hope this project will inspire other Mapuche Huilliche families to recover the island. This is the dream of her mother, Telma, who has not lost hope of seeing her land once again rich in native forests, where future generations will preserve and practice their ancestral culture associated with the resources of the native forest. “My mother chose her trees [for the project] herself. Especially the hazelnut, for the toasted flour,” which is consumed by Mapuche people mixed with water, milk or apple cider. For Telma, it doesn’t matter how long it takes for the hazelnut to bear fruit and become toasted flour, what matters is that her future generation will benefit and this traditional relationship with the forest will be maintained.
The experience of the participatory and consultative process in the design and implementation of the project “Recovery of the Native Forest on Huapi Island”, and overall, the gender-responsive, social inclusive and intercultural approach of the ENCCRV, has provided valuable lessons on the opportunities and benefits of such processes for the sustainability of actions on the ground. Ultimately, on the ground implementation of the ENCCRV is laying the foundations for a new model of forest governance in Chile, with a more comprehensive vision of the landscape and where indigenous peoples and other peasant and rural populations play a central role in strengthening sustainable and resilient forest landscapes and livelihoods.
Mapuche Huilliche families are currently restoring eight hectares of the island’s forest. So far, over 800 similar initiatives are being implemented collaboratively by CONAF and FAO. © CONAF-FAO /Esteban Rivas
