Futa Mawiza Biocultural Territory

About the Futa Mawiza Biocultural Territory

The Futa Mawiza Biocultural Territory located in Argentina and Chile contains glaciers, river sources and a complex network of basins, lakes and lagoons next to the Andean Patagonian forests or the so-called “cold forest” where the mountain forests predominate. The territory is also located in the Valdiviana ecoregion, which is characterized by evergreen forests of multiple strata, and is the only temperate rainforest in South America. Due to its geographical isolation, it stands out for its high number of endemic species and for being a refuge for the flora of Antarctica Antigua. Chile’s extreme range from the northern Atacama Desert to southern Patagonia creates very varied landscapes, with recent analyses identifying 30 ecosystems. Ecosystems dominated by native vegetation cover 76 percent of the country, with another 17 percent covered by desert ecosystems. A large portion of the subproject area is considered a biodiversity hotspot and highly threatened. 

Before the arrival of the Spanish and the creation of the Chilean and Argentinian states, the Mapuche people developed their own socio-political organization and a complete and complex territorial structure, inserted in a “universal whole”, with divinities and powers that morally sanctioned the obligations by which one should live in harmony with animal, mineral, vegetable and human nature. Many of these practices have become less common, but the central elements of the az mapun (Mapuche normative system) still remain within the lof, now called communities. The Mapuche culture has resisted consecutive efforts to eradicate, dominate and later – through various public policies – to assimilate and integrate the Mapuche people into the nation states of Chile and Argentina. Both states overlap with the so-called Wallmapu (land that surrounds us), where social and cultural knowledge and practices are kept alive, with an oral tradition maintained by generations. Wallmapu encompasses mountains, forests, rivers, and all forms of life. Protected areas were created in this area without the prior, free and informed consent of the Mapuche people and in some cases through military force and eviction. The Mapuche people are looking to move towards full or shared governance of these areas. The Mapuche concept of life is rooted in and guided by the communal, by the collective, since what happens to one of the newen (nature spirits) also has repercussions at the collective level, and therefore at the level of all the spatial dimensions of the territory.

Indigenous economic activities:

• Agriculture
• Livestock
• Agroforestry
• Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs)
• Tourism

Challenges and threats:

• Agricultural expansion and commercialization 
• Climate change
• Deforestation, overgrazing, and overexploitation of wildlife and other natural resources
• National and Regional Policies and Plans linked to tenure security
• Loss of Indigenous knowledge 
• Mining 
• Infrastructure development (e.g. roads, railways, pipelines, transmission lines, wind farms, geothermal projects, airports, dams) 
• Globalization, integration into market economy, influence of Western culture, lack of recognition of traditional systems 
• Tourism 
• Hydroelectric mega-dams
• Illegal logging
• Hydrocarbon activity 
• Large-scale land acquisitions, real estate development, urbanization 
• Invasive species 
• Human-wildlife conflict