Environment

Phys.org - Humboldt penguins remain at the zoo in Santiago, on April 4, 2013. Several dozen Humboldt penguins sun themselves along the coast of an islet in central Chile where the majestic birds coming here to nest once numbered in the thousands.

Guardian - Olympic medallists in snowboarding and skiing have called on Barack Obama on to save winter sports by taking ambitious measures against climate change.

Chile’s National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) has confirmed an outbreak of infectious salmon anemia at a farm in Aysen region, reported the Chilean news website La Tercera.

I Love Chile - Since 2004, Harvard University has created at least eleven companies to exploit the forest industry in Chile. One of these is Agrícola Brinzal, which faces two lawsuits in Ancud. The National Forest Corporation (CONAF) pressed charges against the company for the illegal clearfelling of 189 acres of native forest, and also for breaching the forest management plan – they reforested 181 acres of land with eucalyptus instead of native plant species. The same company received reforestation subsidies from the Chilean government of about CL$114 million between 2007 and 2010.

Santiago Times - From March 24 to April 7, eight U.S. teenagers will travel to Patagonia through an exchange program with Club Náutico Escualo, a local youth kayaking club. The Ríos to Rivers program aims to introduce the young kayakers to the controversial HidroAysén project.

Weekly News Update on the Americas - As of Mar. 2 the Spanish-Italian electric energy consortium Endesa-Enel was calling for dialogue with indigenous Mapuche communities in Valdivia province in Chile’s southern Los Ríos region in an effort to get clearance for the consortium’s stalled $781 million hydroelectric project at Lake Neltume. The dialogue offer came in response to reservations that Los Ríos public service agencies expressed about the power company’s latest proposal for the plant. Jorge Weke (also spelled “Hueque”)–the werkén (spokesperson) for the Koz Koz Parliament in Panguipulli, a municipality that would be affected by the dam—rejected the dialogue offer, saying the company didn’t understand the project’s significance for the Mapuche.

WCS press release- The Wildlife Conservation Society applauds the Government of Argentina for creating two enormous marine protected areas in Patagonia, a region filled with majestic shorelines and abundant wildlife.