06 Jun “Nature as an ally”: Online meeting seeks to make visible how nature contributes to human wellbeing

The GEF Incentives for Biodiversity Conservation project, SECOS Millennium Institute and Fundación Bariloche will present the “Ecosystem Services Manual for Planners” on May 28. The document provides practical tools for professionals and technical teams working in planning, conservation and territories, to apply the ecosystem services approach in planning.

The ecosystem services approach has gained relevance in global agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the post-2020 conservation goals and the call to recognize the contributions or benefits of nature to people.

In this context, Laura Nahuelhual, researcher at the University of Los Lagos and Fundación Bariloche, the Millennium Institute in Coastal Socio-ecology (SECOS) and the Center for Dynamic Research of High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (IDEAL) together with Pedro Laterra, researcher at Fundación Bariloche and CONICET Argentina, present “Nature as an ally: Ecosystem Services Manual for Planners”, a practical document designed for professionals and technical teams working in planning, conservation and other interventions in the territory.

The ecosystem services approach makes visible how nature contributes to human well-being, facilitating more integrated conservation and development decisions. Thus, the Nature as an ally manual provides practical tools to apply this approach in real interventions, such as territorial planning, restoration or private conservation.

The launch event, with prior registration and open transmission through the YouTube channel of the GEF Incentives Project, seeks to open a conversation between academia, the public sector and civil society on the challenges and opportunities of applying this approach in Chile. Participants will include Víctor Caro from the Ministry of the Environment; Kirian Mischke-Reeds, researcher at the World Resources Institute and head of the ‘2050 is Now’ project; Amerindia Jaramillo from the GEF Incentives for Biodiversity Conservation project; María José Martínez-Harms from U. Santo Tomás, IEB and SECOS; and Bárbara Saavedra, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Chile and member of the Natural Capital Committee.

The publication, aimed at government professionals, NGOs, consultants and students who work with nature in the territory, will be available online and free of charge on the website gefincentivos.mma.gob.cl. To participate in the launch, registration is open at bit.ly/Manual-SSEE.