When Chilean President Gabriel Boric instructed the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) to complete the final section of a highway connecting the southern cities of La Unión and Corral in June 2023, the scientific community made their concerns known internationally. “Chile’s road plans threaten ancient forests” was the headline of a letter published in the scientific journal Science. A part of the road will pass through the Alerce Costero National Park, a protected area that preserves one of the world’s longest-living tree species: the alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides). The species grows exclusively in Chile and Argentina, and has been classified as Endangered by both the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Chilean government, due to decades of indiscriminate logging. Currently, the environmental impact assessment for the road works is suspended, following a series of observations made by the National Forest Corporation (CONAF, the organization responsible for the administration of protected areas in Chile) regarding the project, including the felling of almost 800 alerce trees. According to scientists, this road would not only put an already threatened species at even greater risk—thus violating the treaty that Chile signed during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in December 2022—but also increase the risk of wildfires, invasive species and illegal logging. But the MOP argues that the highway will enable the integration of rural areas, thereby improving the connectivity around the town of Corral. According to the Ministry, the highway is an essential work of national interest, which is how the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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