Rewilding the Southern Cone of South America
Rewilding Argentina and Chile
Re:wild is pleased to announce a new partnership to support rewilding efforts in the Southern Cone of South America, which includes ecosystems ranging from temperate rainforest to desert to coastal areas—and is home to iconic yet threatened species such as the Jaguar, Andean Huemul Deer, Darwin’s Rhea, Puma, Maned Wolf and Red-footed Tortoise.
Kris Tompkins, the former CEO of Patagonia, Inc., founded Tompkins Conservation with her late husband Doug. Together, they purchased land in Argentina and Chile, which they worked with local teams to protect and restore before turning over to their respective governments to create national parks. Together with partners, Tompkins Conservation continues its work creating parks on land and sea, restoring ecosystems and rewilding species.
Rewilding Argentina. Created in 2010 by Argentine conservationists, Rewilding Argentina is the offspring of Tompkins Conservation, continuing the work of natural parks creation, ecosystem restoration through rewilding, and nature-based tourism development for the prosperity of local communities and wildlife.After more than 20 years of work, Rewilding Argentina has helped create nine natural parks and protect over 1 million acres on land and 90 thousand square kilometers at sea. Further, they are conducting rewilding projects with 24 keystone species, and helping create four nature-based tourism destinations for the prosperity of eight local communities.
Rewilding Chile. For 30 years now, Rewilding Chile, formerly Tompkins Conservation Chile, has been dedicated to protecting Chilean Patagonia by creating national parks, restoring ecosystems, and actively managing endangered species such as the Andean Huemul Deer - one of 20 keystone species needed to rewild the world, according to a publication in the journal Ecography.
To date, it has created seven national parks and helped expand another three. Patagonia National Park, which they helped create and where their main rewilding project is based, was featured as one of the most powerful wildlife protected areas in the new Netflix docuseries ‘Our Greatest National Parks’ narrated by Barack Obama.
Re:wild is taking over Tompkins Conservation’s role as fiscal sponsor for Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, which means we'll offer—among other things—financial, legal, and administrative support.