“Environmental awareness goes through knowing our environment; it’s very hard to take care of what’s unknown, what’s not wanted.”
Her extended career as conservationist, mainly in Chilean and Argentinian Patagonia, alongside her late husband, fellow ecologist, Douglas Tompkins, was the cover letter that allowed Kristine McDivitt Tompkins be appointed the first UN Environment Patron of Protected Areas.
In Chile, her story is vast and full of milestones in terms of conservation and sustainability. Her last activity that attracted world attention was the donation of 400 thousand hectares in the Patagonia, with the purpose of creating a 4.5 million hectare park system in southern Chile. The donation was considered the largest private donation to the Chilean state for conservation purposes.
Kristine was born and raised in a farm in southern California, except for a three year period she spent in Venezuela. At age 15, she met and befriended the famous rock climber and equipment manufacturer, Yvon Chouinard, who granted her a summer job in his climbing equipment company, Chouinard Equipment.
After finishing her studies in Idaho, where she also competed in skiing contests, she began working full-time in what later became Patagonia, Inc. By recognising that manufacturing inevitably causes pollution, Patagonia became a model for corporate responsibility, mitigating its environmental impacts and educating costumers about hazards on Planet Earth. In 1993, she left Patagonia, married Douglas Tompkins and moved to southern Chile.
Your conservation work developed in Chile and Argentina was one of the reasons the UN decided to appoint you as Patron of Protected Areas, an all-new position within the organisation. How did you received the appointment?
I feel very proud of holding this position and a huge happiness for Tompkins Conservation. It’s a huge responsibility and I hope I can contribute with our vision and strategy to proceed in conservation.
What are your goals and priorities in this new position?
My priority is to represent our team in order to announce the work we have done alongside Chilean and Argentinian governments for more than 25 years, hoping these successful efforts by many people become models for other countries in the future.
How was your experience in Nairobi, Kenia, where you planned your first activities as Patron? What is or was your first measure?
It was a very good experience that allowed me to visit national parks and start a work with the UN to strengthen the conservation of terrestrial and maritime areas.
Will you put an emphasis in the Southern Cone for the experience acquired in Fundación Pumalin or will your management focus where conservation is threatened? Any place you’re concerned by or that requires an urgent conservation plan?
I will release the work we’ve done in Chile and Argentina, in order to inspire and serve as model for other countries. The planet is unique and conservation must have a global look on environmental conflicts that affect the entire planet. While there are territories that are more priority than others, it’s key to understand the planet as an integrated ecosystem and that most solve environmental problems as a whole.
How do you perceive the intention or will by many countries to design and implement conservation policies? The discussion is focused on the lack or the weakness of territorial planning instruments in order to achieve goals in this subject. Do you agree with this appreciation?
Indeed there’s a need to advance in terms of conservation. In fact, some people still don’t believe in global warming. Even so there are remarkable examples, like Chile, where there has been a huge advance in the last years, both in terrestrial and maritime conservation.
Chile, system of parks and protected maritime areas
What is your vision and review of conservation in Chile?
We have worked with different administrations and we’ve managed to create national parks with Presidents Ricardo Lagos, Sebastian Piñera and Michelle Bachelet, which is why I have the best opinion of efforts made in Chile. Chile is an international example for conservation.
How would you analyse the current state of biodiversity in Chile?
Just like the rest of the world, there are many threatened species, but thanks to the creation of national parks and wild life programs, this has been reversing, for example, what’s happened in Parque Patagonia which, after removing hundreds of kilometres of livestock fence, we’ve achieved an increase in huemul and guanaco populations. At Tompkins Conservation we have made giant efforts in ecosystem restoration both in Chile and Argentina, and we know it has brought results.
What about the protection of natural resources?
You can always improve legislation and procedures to preserve natural resources the best possible way. The good thing is that more people have accepted the fact that environment can’t be separated from economical activities.
What can you say about the more than 8 years it has taken to pass the legislation of a Biodiversity Service, as part of the so-called New Environmental Institutions, created in 2009 and implemented since 2010?
I don’t know the details, but I know it has been a slow process because there are many elements being disputed, but we trust that it will come to fruition.
What is the worldwide trend? How far should Chile point in this matter?
Each country must make its decisions autonomously and we hope the authorities in charge know how to find the best way to solve this situation.
Among existing Protected Wild Areas in Chile, which one would you highlight? Any preferred park?
Each park has its own attributes. Nature does not compete in what’s prettier or less pretty. Even so, I have a very special relationship with the Patagonia and I love southern Chile. With Douglas we crossed many parks on the Patagonian Park Route, it’s a very romantic place with huge landscapes.
How was the process of land donation to the Chilean state announced a few months ago? How do you evaluate it?
It was a long and intense process that ended earlier this year with the signing of decrees for the establishment of five new national parks: Pumalín Douglas Tompkins, Melimoyu, Patagonia, Kaweskar and Cerro Castillo, also including the extension of Hornopirén, Corcovado and Isla Magdalena. This milestone is fruit of the effort and work of so many people and a great example of public-private partnership. To this day, the General Accounting Office is yet to approve the last 2 out of 8 decrees.
What are the core objectives, conditions and why Tompkins Conservation decided to donate them to the Chilean state?
We look for the highest land protection and this is achieved by a National Park category. We saw as a manner of repatriating the lands, as today these parks belong to all Chileans. Our proposal included some contribution by the state, which secured a larger extension of protected lands. On the other hand, our donation included the signing of a protocol with CONAF to keep our links to the protection of the parks.
To your judgement, what is the biggest legacy left by your husband, Douglas Tompkins, for our country and the rest of the world in terms of conservation?
Doug had an exceptional ability to think at big scales; this, including his high energy and ability to motivate others, helped his dreams come true, and leaving as legacy the establishment of 11 national parks in Chile and Argentina as of today. Doug taught people to look at nature in another way.
Power generation projects, which way do they impact Chile in times of seeking to consolidate conservation? How can a balance be achieved?
Power generation projects, themselves, do not go against conservation; it depends on the scale and the place. Hence we must make a balance on less invasive solutions, and keep boosting non-conventional renewable energies, which Chile has a huge potential for. It’s always given the responsibility on addressing environmental challenges and, in particular, the conservation, to future generations, when it’s ourselves who are training them.
What message would you send to children and youth in our country, those who will be in charge of conservation in the future? How can they successfully internalise this environmental awareness?
Environmental awareness goes through knowing our environment; it’s very hard to take care of what’s unknown, what’s not wanted. The invitation for all is to visit the national parks, meet nature in its wild state and, from there, understand the importance of nature in life. We all belong to this planet, both human and non-human lives.
During Chile’s latest government, the southernmost Protected Maritime Area in the world was established. What is the next step for our country and how can we consolidate as global example in this matter?
It’s very important to establish Coastal Maritime Areas and keep developing the institutions to define how they can be effectively protected and how to supervise these areas.
In the same line as Protected Maritime Areas in Chile, this measure was appraised by conservationists but criticised by productive sectors like the fishing industry or aquaculture, thus affecting more than just one of many variables in “sustainable development”, what is your opinion?
Protected areas should not be seen as contrary to development but as its lever instead, as parks can act as a boost for local economies, by encouraging tourism as consequence of conservation. Protected areas are one more alternative for development.
How would you evaluate the work done by CONAF in terms of conservation and protected wild areas? Should their administration remain under CONAF’s supervision or should it be passed to the Ministry of Environment?
We appreciate and want to relieve the public value of national parks, therefore, we support public institutions in doing their job, and our work with CONAF has always been in the best terms.
You have a Partnership Agreement…
We signed a Partnership Agreement with them for an initial 10-year period of time and we formed a technical board to assess the transference of Patagonia and Pumalín Douglas Tompkins parks to the State, to support the concession of tourist infrastructure, wild life programs and the design of management plans. We hugely trust in the results of this Partnership Agreement in order to keep linked to the development of the Patagonian Park Route, with its 17 national parks ranging from Puerto Montt to Cape Horn.
A few days ago, it was held in Puerto Varas the launch of Friends of Patagonian Parks Corporation, which emerged to strengthen and value the national parks. What are the objectives, mission and projections for this organisation? What partners are involved in this initiative, and how can we “drench” the community in this conservational awareness?
Indeed, we made a launch in Santiago and Los Lagos Region, and we will soon make launches in Aysén and Magellan regions. The Friends of Patagonian Parks Corporation was created to protect and value the national parks in the Chilean Patagonia, inviting civil society to get involved in their protection. It’s a Chilean organisation created for the Chilean people, because the success of a good national park system is not just a job done by the state but by the society as a whole. For a “drenched community”, it’s key to invite people to know the parks, because you don’t love and care for what’s unknown.