{"id":2005,"date":"2024-04-24T16:32:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T16:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zyn.xar.mybluehost.me\/website_f6c74d10\/?page_id=2005"},"modified":"2025-12-17T19:33:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T19:33:50","slug":"why","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/conservapucheguin.org\/en\/why\/","title":{"rendered":"Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Why does Fundo Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn<\/span> need protection?<\/h2><\/span>
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A critical missing piece in Patagonia\u2019s vast network of protected areas, Fundo Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn remains vulnerable due to its unprotected status.<\/h4><\/span>
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Unlike the surrounding 1.6 million hectares of parks and reserves, Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn faces ongoing threats like development, land division, and unregulated tourism.<\/p>\n

Since 2022, the sale of Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn has caused concern amongst the local community, scientists and organizations like Puelo Patagonia that have been working for years for the Cocham\u00f3 region\u2019s conservation. Many feared that the huge property would be purchased by someone without conservation plans, knowledge, or respect for the territory and its population. This sparked the formation of Conserva Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn, an alliance dedicated to securing permanent safeguards for this irreplaceable ecosystem and its communities.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Land
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Real estate
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Unregulated
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High-impact
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Forest
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Surrounded by a nearly 1,630,000-hectares contiguous landscape of parks across Chile and Argentina, the Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn property is a key piece in Patagonia\u2019s conservation puzzle. Securing its permanent protection would create one of Latin America’s largest biological corridors, connecting fragmented habitats and allowing for the free movement of wildlife across protected landscapes.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Patagonia is the continent\u2019s second largest carbon sink, making it an essential region in combatting climate change. Chilean Patagonia\u2019s forest cover, peatlands, and wetlands store approximately twice the amount of carbon per hectare as the Amazon. Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn alone is home to more than 58,000 hectares of primary forest \u2013 in sharp global decline throughout the world \u2013 as well as an extensive hydrographic network, both of which work to sequester carbon.<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn provides critical habitat for endemic and endangered species, including huemul deer, Wolffsohn’s viscacha, Darwin\u2019s frog, and monito del monte \u2013 one of South America\u2019s only marsupials. The Cocham\u00f3 region also includes over 17,000 hectares, or 10% of the Chilean population, of alerce trees, known to be some of the oldest trees on earth.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Learn more about what we are protecting<\/span><\/h2><\/span>
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Explore more<\/span>Explore more<\/span><\/div><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Community
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LEARN MORE<\/span>LEARN MORE<\/span><\/div><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Conserva Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn will implement an innovative, cooperative, and participative conservation model. Pucheg\u00fc\u00edn is home to a unique mountain community with a deeply rooted Gaucho culture characterized by horsemanship, agrarianism, and small-scale livestock farming in a backcountry environment. This initiative seeks to develop a model of sustainable economic growth that will support \u2013 not destroy \u2013 the local traditions, culture, and way of life.<\/p>\n

Purchasing this property will generate a unique opportunity to develop a local economic model based on conservation and ecotourism. The creation of a protected area can provide new economic opportunities, in turn reducing poverty, improving wellbeing, and supporting the prosperity of local culture, traditions, and lifestyles.<\/p><\/h4><\/span>

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Arriero-gaucho culture<\/span>Arriero-gaucho culture<\/span><\/div><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Local leadership<\/span>Local leadership<\/span><\/div><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Economic development<\/span>Economic development<\/span><\/div><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Nature tourism<\/span>Nature tourism<\/span><\/div><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>