The wildlife of Chile is very diverse because of the country's slender and elongated shape, which spans a wide range of latitude, and altitude, ranging from the windswept coastline of the Pacific coast on the west to northern Andes to the sub-Antarctic, high Andes mountains in the east. There are many distinct ecosystems. Chile, often called "the spine of South America", has 100 protected areas covering a total area of 14.5 million hectares (20% of the country) in 36 national parks, 49 national reserves, and 15 national monuments. In the southern part of Chile, 50% of the flora (part of temperate rain forest called the Valdivian forests) is endemic, which is a unique feature in the world. Lapageria rosea (Chilean bellflower) is the national flower, the Andean condor, (Vultur gryphus) (NT) is the national bird, and the South Andean huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus), is the national animal of Chile. Legally, wildlife in Chile is res nullius (ownerless property).
Geography
From the wildlife angle, Chile in Southern South America stretches in a north–south direction, called the spine of South America, has terrestrial borders with Argentina and Peru, and has long coast line of 6,435 km (3,999 miles) on the South Pacific Ocean. The Atacama Desert is the most arid desert in the world. The Ojos del Salado, a crater lake which is the world's highest lake, at 6,390 metres (20,960 ft), is located here.
Climate In northern Chile there is the harsh Atacama Desert with typical desert wildlife such as cacti. In the country's central region, there is a temperate Mediterranean climate, while the south has cold and moist mountainous regions and numerous islands.
Enabling laws The first law addressing the capture and use of wild animals was contained in the Civil Code of 1888. Chile has brought nearly 20% of its terrestrial area under conservation protection laws and 3.19% of its marine jurisdiction is also under protection. The first national park was created in 1925 following an earlier protected area created in 1907. But it was the Ley de Bosques (1931) which permitted the establishment of NP, reserves and natural monuments. Since then several agencies both government (at the central and regional level) and private agencies have been involved in biodiversity conservation and preservation. Until 1984, the conservation actions of creation and management of protected areas was with the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG), a government body. In 1970, the Chilean Forest Service (CONAF) was given the responsibility to create and manage protected areas. A centralized system for preservation of the biodiversity of Chile was, however, created in 1984 only, under the Decree Law 18,362 which specified the creation of protected areas as "the continuity of evolutionary processes, animal migrations, genetic flow patterns and the regulation of the environment". Under this decree a national public system titled Sistema Nacional deÁreas Silvestres Protegidas (SNASPE) was established and charged with the task of setting up parks and reserves under set guidelines for management and conservation. The SNASPE followed the IUCN guidelines to set up protected areas under four categories of Virgin Regional Reserves, National Parks, Natural Monuments, and National Reserves. Complementing the actions of SNAPE are initiatives taken by private agencies to protect specific areas. Both actions are tended towards ecotourism. As biodiversity outside the limits of the protected areas is equally important, proposals have been mooted to promote this activity.
Laws regulating exploitation of wildlife are in force since 1888 which have been improved upon since the 1990s, with regulations of 1993 being the most recent and stringent. This has resulted in almost total check over hunting and commercialization of vertebrates, except for exploitation of bird species, two deer (introduced), vertebrate pests, and the inducted lagomorphs species of European hare (Lepus timidus) and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). While the laws have provided protection to reptiles and amphibians, animals with fur cover and game species of both birds and mammals are exploited to a reasonable level. However, cross border illegal traffic still persists and Chile acts as a conduit for illegal trafficking in animals from other South American countries and the law enforcement in this regard is lax.
Protected areas
With respect to conservation of flora and fauna, the protected areas are identified in the country's 15 administrative regions, plus the Metropolitan area and the Metro de Santiago, which are listed in alphabetical order (each region's serial number—based on information sourced to Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF)— appears in parentheses):
There are 100 protected areas in the above listed regions covering an area of 14.5 million hectares (20% of the country) in 36 national parks, 49 national reserves, and 15 national monuments. The national monuments account for 0.01% of the area.
In terms of world statistics of area covered under protection, Chile has the second place in Latin America and seventh place in the world. However, the distribution of the protected area in the country is highly uneven with two of the 15 administrative regions garnering 84% of the protected area, and with the southern regions XI and XII having the major share of about 50% of the total area which adjoins the forest and protected areas of the Argentinian Andes of Patagonia. In the remaining regions, the protected area covered is only 4.4% of total area which is less than the accepted international norm of 5%. The protected areas are also governed by the "ice and rock" criterion adopted in the United States Wilderness System. Under this criterion, about 23% of the total area of SNASPE is covered by ice fields and other land types which have no vegetation and least habitation. Apart from the 100 terrestrial protected areas which also partly include some marine areas, now 75 new critical bird areas of marine birdlife have been identified by BirdLife International. The Important Bird Areas (IBA) cover the "cliffs of Arica, the bays of Coquimbo, Mejillones, the mouths of Biobío and Maipu rivers, the Alejandro Selkirk islands, Choros, Damas, Punta de Choros, and Parque Nacional Cabo de Hornos."
Flora
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