BIOCULTURAL CONSERVATION, EDUCATION AND ECOTOURISM IN THE MINIATURE FORESTS OF CAPE HORN

Abstract

Omora Ethnobotanical Park is a transdisciplinary long-term socio-ecological research site in the southernmost city in the world: Puerto Williams, capital of the Antarctic Province of Chile. Inaugurated in 2000, its research, education and conservation program has developed a methodological approach to Field Environmental Philosophy (FEP), which has sought to generate a biocultural “lens shift” in the assessment of subantarctic biodiversity. In 2002, the research carried out by the Park’s scientific team showed that the Magallanes subantarctic ecoregion harbors more than 5% of the world’s bryophyte species in less than 0.01% of the earth’s surface, and more than 60% are endemic This defined Cape Horn as a biodiversity center or “hotspot” of bryophyte diversity on a planetary scale. However, this non-vascular flora or bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) was much less known and valued than the vascular flora (e.g., shrubs and trees). First we investigated the magnitude and causes of this problematic ignorance, and then we attempted to correct it with adapting FEP’s methodological approach. In this article, we have three complementary goals: 1) to quantify in the formal and non-formal education taxonomic biases that favor vascular flora over non-vascular flora and also exotic flora over native flora, specifically quantifying the illustrated flora in school texts in Chile and the “floristic imaginary” of the students of Puerto Williams; 2) to develop an educational and recreational activity that adapts the FEP methodology to incorporate and value non-vascular flora and native flora in formal and non-formal education, including ecotourism in the Municipality of Cape Horn; 3) to evaluate the impact that this educational methodology and ecotourism have developed in the Omora Park in reversing the negative bias towards non-vascular flora in schoolchildren in Puerto Williams and the daily culture of Magellan citizens. Regarding the first goal of Puerto Williams school students’ mindsets in 2000, 114 interviews with students at Donald McIntyre School were analyzed. In their answers to the question “Name five plants that you remember,” the schoolchildren mentioned 30 species in total. None mentioned mosses or any bryophyte or lichen; students mentioned only vascular plants. The rose (Rosa sp.), the apple tree (Malus domestica Borkh. 1803), and the daisy (Bellis perennis L., 1753) obtained the highest percentage of mentions by the students. In relation to the biogeographical origins of the flora, most of the mentioned plants corresponded to exotic species. Of the 30 species mentioned, 22 (73.3%) were exotic and 8 (26.7%) native. In contrast, in 2009, the students of Donald McIntyre School mentioned both vascular and non-vascular plants, and mosses ranked second in frequency of mention. Like the year 2000, the highest percentage of mention was for the rose with 28%, followed by “mosses” (as a group of plants) with 24%, and for the Box-leafed Barberry (Berberis buxifolia G. Forst.) (12 %), an emblematic native species. Regarding the biogeographic origin, the mentioned plants corresponded to native (44.4%) and exotic (55.6%) species in similar proportions. In school texts a marked taxonomic bias towards vascular flora and biogeographic bias towards exotic flora was also demonstrated. Regarding the second goal, FEP’s methodology was adapted with metaphors and activities such as “hugging a mossy brother”and “ecotourism with hand-lens” with preschool, school and university levels of formal education, and citizens of the local community of Puerto Williams, tourism guides, Chilean Navy personnel and tourists. Finally, regarding the third goal, FEP’s methodology was evaluated, and evidence was found regarding its effectiveness to reverse both biases. Through the adaptation of FEP’s methodology for the design of activities and concepts focused on the non-vascular flora of the sub-Antarctic ecoregion of Magellan, the Miniature Forest of Cape Horn metaphor and the Ecotourism with a Hand-Lens activity were progressively incorporated into the regional, national and international press during the period 2000-2009. Through the creation of the Omora Biocultural course at the Donald McIntyre Griffith School in Puerto Williams, students practiced FEP’s methodology through exercises of poetic composition and open-air inquiry. Students have also participated in scientific fairs where they have communicated their findings on non-vascular flora, have obtained recognition and a discipline that has allowed several to become professionals in environmental disciplines. The effectiveness of FEP’s methodology combining research activities, pictorial composition, outdoor work and “direct encounters” with the various living beings was particularly relevant for preschoolers. Finally, FEP’s methodology catalyzed cultural changes that contribute to the care of biodiversity by citizens, through ecotourism experiences. This work demonstrates that it is possible to catalyze biocultural transformations that generate changes in the perception and assessment of living beings, which often go unnoticed. Through FEP’s methodological approach, mosses, liverworts and lichens have now become visible and known for their ecological, ethical, aesthetic and economic value. This work carried out by the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program in the southernmost long-term socio-ecological studies site of the American continent, Omora Park, could be adapted in other socio-ecological studies sites to contribute to make visible, value and conserve myriads of poorly perceived living beings that are idiosyncratic in other regions of Chile and the planet.