Patagon Journal’s Climate Change in Patagonia project, created in partnership with Earth Journalism Network, explores many of the multiple impacts of climate change now and in the future for Patagonia. This collaboration of scientists, journalists, and environmentalists (a shorter version of the series is also published in Issue 11 of the magazine) provides the stories behind the numbers and warns us that climate change is already happening. 
 
 
 
The changing landscape of Patagonia
When we hear the term “climate change” we picture graphs of carbon dioxide levels, or images of smokestacks or forest fires, yet actually seeing the long-term impacts of climate change is often difficult. But in Patagonia, the changes taking place because of climate change can become visible where millennia-old ice is melting faster than ever before. As a photographer I found that looking back in time through historic photographs revealed the tremendous scale of change. Read more..
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mystery whale deaths: Is climate change the cause?
While on a scientific expedition in Golfo de Penas in April 2015, a team of biologists and sailors stumbled upon hundreds of dead sei whales on beaches in Chilean Patagonia. The mysterious circumstances surrounding the whale deaths have been the springboard for collaborative, international multi-disciplinary projects about the whale deaths and more broadly changes in the Patagonian marine environment. Read more..
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
From Paris to Patagonia: On rivers and climate change
Perhaps the biggest threat to Patagonia’s rivers comes under the cloak of climate change policy. This policy is designed to favor construction of large dams in the region under the guise of cutting carbon emissions. New studies question whether Chile has to accept dams as a solution to climate change. Read more..
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tree plantations: the green tide that threatens Aysén?
Large-scale tree plantations are now being questioned not only for visual reasons, but primarily because of their impact on the ecosystem, and especially the problems they cause for natural water resources. Hundreds of hectares of tree plantations can already be found in Aysen. In the coming years, with rising temperature due to climate change, could a “green tsunami” of more tree farms be coming to Patagonia, similar to the economic invastion that came with the salmon boom? Read more..
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alternative energy potential in Chilean Patagonia
Chile is blessed with an abundance of renewable energy resources, including solar, wind, small-hydro, biomass, biogas, geothermal and marine sources. Patagonia in particular, with its infamous winds, dense forests, and wild rivers, holds great promise for contributing to Chile’s efforts to combat climate change in the energy sector. Read more..
 

 

 

  

The impact of heatwaves in Patagonia

Although global warming projections for the 21st century show that it will only have a relatively moderate temperature increase compared to other regions in the world, nevertheless rising temperatures are already having a considerable natural and socioecological impact on Patagonia.  Read more..