Chile achieved a new international recognition in conservation. After three years of work, Cerro Castillo National Park officially entered the Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a system that distinguishes those areas with excellent management and concrete results in biodiversity and local development.
CONAF's executive director, Rodrigo Illesca, emphasized that "this is a great achievement for the effective conservation of Chile's protected areas. We are proud of the work done by our professionals, but especially by the team of park rangers, who demonstrated that it is possible to implement management systems with international standards".
The administrator of Cerro Castillo National Park, Mario Alegría, said that "we know that we are not a perfect site, but we have made concrete progress in community outreach, species monitoring, and planning for the area. All thanks to the commitment and leadership of the park rangers".
At a global level, the so-called Green List is made up of 87 protected sites in 18 countries, which is why, with this recognition, Chile has become a reference in Latin America in terms of effective conservation, aligning itself with global goals such as the protection of 30% of the planet by 2030, as agreed at the last COP15 on Biodiversity.
Currently, in addition to Cerro Castillo National Park, two other areas of the country are advancing in the certification process: Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park, in the Los Lagos Region, and the Río Cruces Chorocamayo Nature Sanctuary, in the Los Ríos Region.
