In January 2020, Chile introduced South America’s first ever law to protect urban wetlands. At the time, the country’s environment ministry had only six months to lay the groundwork for its implementation — a tall order.
With funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) supported the Chilean government in disseminating and implementing the law, which today safeguards more than 7,600 ha of sensitive coastal wetlands.
“This project is an example of how UNEP, with the generous funding support of the GEF, can collaborate with public and private partners alike in delivering mutually beneficial outcomes through the implementation of environmental policy,” said Robert Erath, Task Manager within the UNEP GEF Biodiversity and Land Degradation Unit. “Our joint project activities on the ground have helped to turn this law from a principle to a reality.”
Designed to protect Chile’s diverse wetlands, particularly those surrounding urban environments, this law demonstrated the strong political will of Chile’s leaders to protect these vital habitats and the rich biodiversity they contain.
The UNEP-GEF project supported Chile to define a set of 10 sustainability criteria, which served as the basis for the interpretation of the law. These criteria were formulated through a collaborative approach, which included input from public agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics and others. It also included private actors from the construction and urban development sector, widely seen as key to the law’s successful implementation.
“The development of the regulations of the Urban Wetlands Law was carried out within a period of only six months, a very limited time for this type of process, and in a broadly participatory way,” said Jimena Ibarra, professional of the Department of Aquatic Ecosystems of the Ministry of the Environment and technical counterpart of the GEF Coastal Wetlands Project. “For this work, more than 13 workshops were held with academics, public services, NGOs, productive unions and the community, where about 800 people participated.”
In supporting this collaborative process, those involved helped ensure a coherent, holistic approach that would have been virtually impossible for one small team of the ministry to oversee.
The environment ministry also needed to ensure the law was well understood by all. This meant developing a series of guidelines for the consistent identification of wetlands, creating standards and guidelines for environmental impact assessments, and ensuring effective implementation of the sustainability criteria. This was a process that had to happen simultaneously across not just one wetland, but across an entire country that spans over half of South America.
With other tools since developed, including training programmes for regional governments, public service sector and NGOs, and best practice guides developed jointly with tourism and infrastructure ministries, the integration of all ministries, including those who are more focused traditionally on development, has been a critical factor in the project’s success.
Meanwhile, people all over the country have been empowered by this initiative, using the law and its implementation to fight for the protection of local wetlands.
“The process, in addition to protecting almost 7,600 hectares of wetlands in the country to date, has also promoted the participation and involvement of local communities, since citizens can provide background and relevant information that can strengthen the technical process," said Daniela Manuschevich, Head of the Natural Resources and Biodiversity Division of the Chile’s environment ministry.
One of the urban wetlands declared by the law is the Mallinco Abtao Lawal, located in the south of Chile. This wetland is considered sacred by the Mapuche, an indigenous community who have lived in Chile for thousands of years. When the Mallinco faced the development of a set of condos that threatened to rip the wetland’s rich ecosystem apart, indigenous elders used the law to prevent its destruction. The action was so successful that the community became deeply involved in the ecosystem’s monitoring, restoration and environmental education through local schools.
“The designation of this new legally protected urban wetland allows us to safeguard the ecological balance, reduce pressures and threats in the ecosystem, and advance sustainability measures,” said María Barría Nahualquín, of the Pascual Huanel Ancestral Community. “Through local governance and harmonious conservation we can continue to protect our ancestral cultural traditions.”
Protecting the planet’s precious biodiversity just makes sense for everyone: environmentally, economically, socially and politically. UNEP is working with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to provide countries with the scientific foundations, policy expertise and innovation needed to best conserve, restore and benefit from their biodiversity. For more information about the Mainstreaming Conservation of Coastal Wetlands of Chile’s South Center Biodiversity Hotspot through Adaptive Management of Coastal Area Ecosystems project or UNEP’s wider work in landscape restoration and biodiversity conservation, please contact Johan.Robinson@un.org. Learn more about our GEF-supported work in biodiversity here.
