Parque Tumbes

Noted on February 21, 2012 by IE3 Student in

Written by Katharina-Victoria Perez: Oregon State University student interning with CODEFF in Talcahuano, Chile.

Currently, I am interning for the Chilean environmental, nongovernmental, organization Comité Nacional Pro Defensa de la Flora y Fauna (CODEFF). I am stationed in Talcahuano which is about 40 minutes west of Concepcion along the coast. Talcahuano is an industrial, fishing, port-town which has been severely affected by dwindling fish populations and also the 8.8 earthquake and resulting tsunami of 2010.

I am working in Parque Tumbes, an urban national park, that is managed by CODEFF and open to the public. By living and working in this area I have learned a lot about the role of culture as well as socio-economics and politics in conservation efforts.

My first week in Chile, I worked on a campaign to raise funds for the victims of a massive fire that engulfed a nearby community. I spent 3 days asking for donations in a supermarket and street in broken Spanish. You should know that Chilean Spanish is quite different from Castellano as they speak very quickly and seem to have something against enunciating. Conversing with Chileans day one however forced me to get accustomed to the language and gave me an opportunity to get familiar with the Chilean lifestyle in Concepcion.

In Tumbes, I work with about 80 women from the surrounding community on various things including: caring for the vegetable garden that is meant for the local community, cleaning the park and removing garbage, removing foliage and vegetation that could be fire hazard as well as insuring that vehicles do not enter the park by helping make trenches. I also had the opportunity to go to Cobquecura, a coastal town, for one week to work on a campaign to protect sealions. The work consisted of estimating the population of sealions as well as scouring the beach for sealion pups that fell of the breeding rock which is situated right of the coast.

This experience so far has shown me what challenges nongovernmental organization face, how the socio-economic status of a community influences conservation efforts, and how difficult it is to change a cultural paradigm to be more ecologically conscious. I have learned most from observation and from conversations I have had with the local people. It is difficult to describe what I have seen and all that I have learned in an email. What I can tell you is that Chile is fascinating country, officially developed, but technically in its infancy in terms of its newly acquired OECD status. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here so far and look forward to what the next half of my internship has in store for me.