The Sociedad Protectora del Medioambiente y Fomento del Turismo de Huentelauquén is one of the Latin American organizations that have won one of our mini-grants of 2016! The organization works in the Choapa province, in the north of Chile, and its members include people from various age groups, from eighteen to seventy-three years old. The Sociedad received the grant for their plan to promote conservation and consciousness of the wetlands in Huentelauquén; of the biodiversity of birds in the area; as well as improving the quality of life of the Huentelauquen community.
In order to accomplish all of these goals, through the funding of the mini-grant, the Sociedad was able to organize four different activities, which invited different members of the community to participate.
To promote consciousness of the wetlands and of the beauty of the region, with the help of artists and community members they created five different murals in the town. Community participation in this activity was essential: children, parents, school teachers, and the general public came together to give life to their town through the murals. It was truly amazing!
To aid conservation in an active manner there was an organized event to clean the entrance of the town and the Gruta Virgen plaza. People came together to clean the areas and some members of the community lent their machinery and trucks to facilitate the activity, which was a great feat for them.
There was also an amazing photography competition, which inspired artistic, communitarian and scientific participation. The competition invited professional photographers as well as amateurs with their cellphone cameras to photograph birds from the area. There were 79 entries in total, which was an amazing result considering Huentelauquen has less than 800 inhabitats. The entries showed birds from all over the area and the best photos were publicized in the Sociedad’s Facebook page.
Lastly, they invited the whole community to go bird watching and to report the birds that they saw. Like the many other activities, this was very important. This reporting contributed to the knowledge about the bird species in the area, particularly what birds are in the Southern Hemisphere during the summer.
The Sociedad Huentelauquén Medioambiente accomplished many wonderful things with their community through the funding of the mini-grant. Their efforts truly show the impact they have created in their local environment, in the birds that reside in the area, and in the community of the gorgeous north of Chile. Congratulations for accomplishing so many astonishing things, and thank you for inspiring a large part of the local community to participate in the conservation and the bird watching of the region!
(If you are interested in looking at the report of the bird watching and to learn more about the organization, you can read their full report by clicking here. Unfortunately it is only in Spanish.)
This page was created by Vanessa Navarro Rodriguez.