About the Programme: Biodiversity

Fuente: INTA, APN. UACH, and WWF 1999. Mapeo de la ecoregion de los bosques Valdivianos informe final, escala 1:500000 Boletón tócnico FVSA N°51, 27 pp. Coberturas sector chileno: Lara A., Rutherford P., Montory C.,Coberturas sector argentino: Bran D., P?rez A., Clayton S., Ayesa J., Barrios M., Gross and Iglesias. CONAF-CONAMA. 1997. Catastro y Evaluación de los Rceursos Vegetacionales Nativos de Chile. Santiago de Chile.
© WWF

Priority Areas

The majority of the land area protected by the National System of Protected Areas (SNASPE) in Chile and ARgentina is located either in the Andes mountain range above 600 meters, or south of the city of Puerto Montt at the 42° parallel.

Ecosystems in these areas are relatively intact and well-protected; however, more threatened ecosystems such as those of the Coastal Range and the Central Valley are extremely under-represented by the SNASPE. For example there is currently only one area with national park status in all of the Coastal Range of the Ecoregion (Nahuelbuta National Park in the 9th Region).

Source: Endemic Anphibians: Ortiz J., Ubeda C., and Formas, R. 2000. Potencial Distribution amphibians species in the Valdivian Ecoregion: Escala 1:500000 INTA, FVSA, and WWF. Endemic Reptiles: Ortiz J., Ibarguengoytin C., Ubeda and Christie. 2001. Endemic Rare Trees. GPS points provided by CONAF VII and VIII Regions.
© WWF

Special Elements

In addition to analysis of habitats, certain "special elements" were mapped and included in the overall analysis as key conservation objectives which occur within very restricted distributions.

A team of biologists mapped the distribution of special elements including amphibians, reptiles, endemic mammals, and tree species. This information helped to better define both the locations and sizes of priority areas, and to classify them according to the urgency for conservation action.