Rapa Nui protects its sea: Chile approves a historic plan for Easter Island that unites science and ancestral knowledge.
Santiago, Chile, April 25 (EFE) - The Chilean government has launched a plan that integrates scientific knowledge and ancestral wisdom to protect the marine ecosystem of the island of Rapa Nui, one of the most affected on the planet by plastic pollution.
"This is a historic milestone, as we have reached an agreement for the island's protected areas to be managed in balance with the activities that the Rapa Nui people have ancestrally carried out," Undersecretary of the Environment Maximiliano Proaño told EFE about the Integrated Management Plan published this Friday in the Official Gazette.
The initiative, developed in collaboration with the Rapa Nui community, the indigenous name given to this remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, seeks to restore and maintain the health of the largest marine protected area in Latin America.
Furthermore, it aims to promote the sustainable use of resources, foster environmental education, and strengthen the sovereignty of the marine territory of the people of Easter Island, located 3,700 kilometers off the Chilean coast.
“It was very important for us to approve the Integrated Management Plan for the island's Marine Protected Areas. I'm happy, delighted to have it in place, and I hope to show it to the entire community now that it's officially approved,” celebrated the leader of the Mesa del Mar community governance body, Koro Felipe Nahoe.
Covering 870,000 square kilometers, encompassing the exclusive ancestral land use zone of the Rapa Nui people and the remote oceanic area of Motu Motiro Hiva National Park, Rapa Nui's protected waters are home to significant natural, economic, and cultural value.
Among the species that give it its high endemism (distribution of a species limited to a narrow geographic area) are yellowfin tuna, kana-kana fish, sea turtles, sharks, cetaceans, and deep-sea corals, varieties that represent a spiritual and subsistence pillar for the island community, but which are currently threatened.
One of the main challenges facing Rapa Nui's marine environment is pollution, as 4.4 million pieces of trash from coastal countries in the Americas and Asia wash up on its shores each year, according to a study by the Catholic University of the North.
In response to this situation, the Integrated Management Plan proposes measures such as regulating tourism and establishing vessel load limits and regulating fishing, in addition to biodiversity monitoring, the protection of emblematic and endangered species, and the control and eradication of invasive species.
Furthermore, it will develop environmental education and cultural transmission activities, promote both scientific and ancestral research, revive and implement traditional cultural practices that are more respectful of the marine ecosystem, and promote community oversight.
This program was approved after seven years of collaborative work involving more than twenty institutions, universities, and local and state organizations. It began in 2018 with an initial assessment and collection of biocultural information, followed by technical work and consultations with the Rapa Nui people, and culminated this Friday with its official presentation.
"Now, the great challenge is to implement this plan, to make the necessary protection of these marine protected areas increasingly effective," concluded the Undersecretary of the Environment. EFE
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