Over the coming decade, we’re going to be seeing forest restoration on an unprecedented scale in Chile. NGP’s study tour to Chile aimed to see how we can make the most of this opportunity.
NGP’s study tour to Chile aimed to see how we can make the most of this opportunity, to learn from practical examples in the field, and to share experiences and ideas with colleagues from around the world. The tour was hosted by WWF-Chile, CMPC and Masisa.
In the last 40 years, large areas of native forest in southern Chile were cleared to make way for plantations. Today, Chile’s three large plantation companies are committed to protecting the natural forest and have all achieved Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.
As a condition of certification, they are obliged to restore a total area of more than 35,000 hectares of natural forest to compensate for areas that have been converted since 1994. The companies are also involved in restoring other areas important for conservation. Through a series of field visits, presentations and discussions, we discovered how this is happening in practice, and explored some of the challenges and opportunities it presents.
Around 40 people took part in the tour, including NGP participants and other companies, academics specializing in ecological restoration, representatives from several WWF offices, and other NGOs.
