Huapi Island and the environmental problems for the Mapuche people

At the center of Lake Ranco in the commune of Futrono, 900 km south of the capital, Santiago de Chile, is located this impressive 815 hectares of surface known as Huapi Island. This small island of impressive nature and beauty lays in a remote area in the south of the Andes, which is only reachable using the local ferry, the Epu Huapi, which means Two Islands in the local Mapuche Mapugundún language, and which makes this 50 minutes journey only 2 times a day.

The island is home to around 150 families, 99% of whom are of Mapuche Huilliche descent, which means Southern Mapuche in Mapudungún, and who persist in preserving their traditions and history. Each family on the island determines the vocation and productive organization of their land, where livestock and agriculture are the main economic activities, followed by the production and processing of firewood for self-consumption and exchange. From the native forest, fruits and mushrooms such as coulles or maqui are traditionally collected, the latter a superfruit packed with antioxidants and, and intended for both self-consumption and exchange within the island. Or the boqui, used to produce crafts and/or basketry, or wood from species as boldo, a native species of the Chilean forest and which is often preferred for the production of fence stakes, and whose fruit is used for self-consumption and its leaves for internal consumption and export for infusions.

Some families, especially younger generations, dream of recovering the island's scenery beauty through the restoration of the native forest, with a view to potentially diversify sustainable livelihoods, such as ecotourism.

Contemporary Mapuche society is characterized by its diversity in terms of land ownership, territorial autonomy and governance, which in turn influences their relationship with the Chilean State, as well as their relationship with forest resources, and the ancestral and cultural legacy in the territory they have historically occupied. Currently, more than 2 million Chileans self-identify as belonging to an indigenous people group, of which 1.7 million identify as Mapuche, either at the family or community level. Indigenous peoples in Chile represent around 12.8% of the total population, with the Mapuche people being 79% of the country's total indigenous population and 9.9% of the total Chilean population (INE, 2017).

For the Mapuche people, the care and respect for certain natural landmarks, animal and plant species, and ecosystems with symbolic value is essential for the continuity of their cultural practices and knowledge, which are shared from generation to generation. Mapuche Huillicheo families on Huapi Island, such as that of Anita Neguimán Antillanca and her mother, Telma Antillanca, are restoring their land with native trees such as the laurel (Laurelia sempervirens), a species with symbolic value for their people, and with this, they seek to preserve their comovision and relationship with the forest.

Chile’s National Strategy for Climate Change and Vegetational Resources and the participation of indigenous peoples in climate action