Creating a Collaborative Management Plan for the Puritama Conservation Reserve

Tierra Austral is involved in a fascinating, impactful and collaborative project at the Puritama Conservation Reserve in northern Chile. This 7,152-hectare/17,672- acre reserve is located in the heart of the Atacama Desert. Recently members of the Tierra Austral team conducted a site visit to Puritama jointly with the Explora ecotourism company and our friends from the Photosítesis ecological consulting firm.

The focus of the site visit was to advance the creation of a management plan for the reserve. We held detailed talks with the staff of Explora, learning about the company’s land use goals for the property, and discussing Tierra Austral’s mission, which encompasses both land conservation and the integration of sustainable management into private protected areas. Both Tierra Austral and Photsíntesis reviewed the core components of a high quality management plan, and solicited extensive input from Explora, which owns the reserve.

We also conducted a participatory workshop that identified and delved deeply into key actions and strategies that would ensure and strengthen the long-term conservation of the reserve and surrounding landscape, pursue opportunities for collaboration, and management challenges. This site visit and workshop were extremely productive, and enabled the participants to lay the groundwork for our partnership and collective creation of a practical and innovative management plan for this natural treasure.