Wine, Climate Change and Biodiversity Program – Chile, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity

An Overview Of Our Solution

Chile’s Mediterranean ecosystem supports most of the country's agriculture while being globally recognized for its unique ecological value, harboring 50% of all Chilean plant and animal species. However, less than 1% is currently protected, leaving countless biodiversity and ecosystem services, on which agricultural production depends (clean water, fertile soils, pollination), unprotected. The Wine, Climate Change & Biodiversity Program is a scientific initiative, aimed to conciliate conservation with the development of the Chilean wine industry. Through research and workshops, we implement better practices with winegrowers and neighboring communities. Our work shows that science and industry working together can find better strategies to preserve the current and future provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the face of global change.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Nonprofit

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Population impacted

10.000 people and more

Size of agricultural area

141.918,12 ha

Production quantity

876.803.171,03 litres

People employed

90.000 workers

Describe your solution

We fostered changes in the farming practices of 16 vineyards, representing 42% of the annual exported volume of Chilean wine. We promoted the introduction of new management practices to protect nature and water, control invasive species, manage fires, restore degraded lands, engage with local communities. We have trained 1701 industry workers and community members through workshops, seminars, and direct advice. Our results are gathered into a best-practices guide. We inventoried biodiversity in over 14130 ha, finding several species never described for those areas before, some at high extinction risk. We collaborated with the trade association Wines of Chile, introducing changes to the National Wine Sustainability Code so now biodiversity-friendly practices are a requisite to obtain the certification. This led to a new collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture to expand our work to other sectors of agriculture. We have also developed new areas of innovative applied research, such as the development of native cover crop mixes to improve soil quality and avoid the use of exotic species, and the identification of native microorganisms important to establish the link between conservation and the ecosystem services delivered by native forest. Lastly we have constructed 3 “inquiry trails” as an educational tool that brings the scientific method and the power of observation to the hands of community members and other winery visitors.

Describe your implementation

Our Program’s activities consist of: training workshops for winery workers, field-laboratory research on questions co-developed by ecologists and the wine industry, training workshops and seminars for government officials, and onsite meetings with winery owners and managers. In order to measure our impact, we evaluated the adoption of the promoted practices together with researchers from the University of Florida, finding what drives/hinders conservation behavior in winegrowers. The results of these studies are used to improve education and knowledge transfer. The global wine industry exerts pressures towards the protection of the environment, but Chilean winemakers did not have the training or expertise to address conservation issues, this is the gap we came to fill. We were enabled by the Basal Funding Grant (CONICYT-Chile) awarded to the IEB in 2008, government funding with an emphasis in research applied to the country’s needs. One of those pressing needs is conserving the Mediterranean region, and helping the agriculture sector inserted in it, preserve the ecosystem services it relies on. Agriculture is fundamental for Chile’s economy, and building resilience to confront global changes is a country priority. We help achieve that resilience through the implementation of practices that preserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. Key success factor is the persistence and creativity of a young interdisciplinary group of scientists committed to solving real life problems addressing a diversity of stakeholders. Our main obstacle is that biodiversity has historically not been a concern for the Chilean industry, resulting in vast landscape degradation and weak policies. There is barely any dialogue between science and industry, so our initial efforts were towards building such ties. Once trust was established after many meetings between volunteer scientists and industry professionals, we started implementing strong knowledge transfer initiatives

External connections

Wines of Chile is a trade association representing 56% of Chilean wineries, that promotes Chilean Wine globally and certificate sustainable growing practices. Our collaboration has led to substantial changes to their Sustainability Code and to new transference and educational tools. The Chilean Office of Agricultural Policy Development (ODEPA), of the Ministry of Agriculture. Together we are developing a model to include biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation to the National Sustainable Agriculture Plan. The Ministry of Environment with whom we are currently working on the national restoration plan for areas affected by the devastating recent wildfires, including the development of more resilient landscape design, and private conservation areas. We also collaborate with several agricultural associations such as Asociación gremial orgánicos del centro sur de Chile and Asociación de productores orgánicos y agroecológicos del Maule, including diverse crop producers and beekeepers. Universities and Research centers such as Universidad Austral de Chile and University of Florida, research centers from California, South Africa and Australia, and wine growers from California and South Africa. Salmon Chile invited us as key speakers to their annual conference in 2016, to show our experience with the wine industry and discuss how this program could be expanded to the aquiculture sector.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

The challenge is the integration of ecological sciences into the practice of agriculture, in order to preserve endangered native ecosystems and the services they provide for the rural and urban worlds. Our goal is to change the worldview that underlies the daily practices that happen in agroecosystems, studying, and educating about, the many benefits that native ecosystems provide by creating beneficial interactions between biodiversity and agriculture. In this way we intend to achieve the protection of the unique and endangered Mediterranean ecosystems of Central Chile. This endeavor is currently undertaken by the scientific and wine industry sectors, and intends to expand to other crops, to make the entire central Chile area more resilient to environmental change.

Describe the context in which you are operating

Chile's Mediterranean ecosystem hosts 50% of the country's native plants and animals and has received international recognition as a priority area for conservation. However, despite its ecological importance, less than 1% of the area is under governmental protection. This region also harbors most of Chile's forestry and agricultural production, industries that heavily rely on the ecosystem services that natural lands provide (pollination, water yield, natural pest control, protection from erosion, etc). Under actual climate change scenarios and rapid land change use, the degradation of the remaining natural ecosystems not only leads to the extinction of globally unique species, but will also have enormous negative consequences for the agricultural industry and the communities that thrive in this area. The only possible way to secure the continuity of food production and access, is engaging farmers, industry and affected communities in the preservation of this ecosystem.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Thanks to our Program 25000 hectares in the Chilean Mediterranean region – a worldwide-recognized biodiversity hotspot – are currently preserved. In these areas, privately owned by the wine industry, cattle are excluded at different degrees, invasive species identified and control plans to manage them are established. Biodiversity has been identified and monitored, expanding previously known species distributions, information hat has been used to take further regional conservation plans. Within vineyard areas, we have implemented practices to increase habitat provision (bird perches and nests, trees within vineyard blocks, etc), given advice on keeping track of the sanitary status of dogs to decrease disease transmission to local fauna, restored creeks with native species, protecting also water quality, and introduced native cover crop plant species. Educating about the value of our unique biodiversity has resulted in vineyards implementing these practices beyond our suggestions.

Language(s)

Spanish

Water

To mitigate water use for irrigation, and excessive fertilization that can result in the pollution of waterways, we have trained our partner vineyards on the use of water as an ecosystem service provided by the natural landscapes they preserve. Inside farms we promoted restoration with native species of riversides, reservoirs and other water bodies, and the use of native species adapted to the local climate as cover crops, promoting biodiversity conservation to maintain water quantity/quality.

Food Security/Nutrition

At present, wine grapes are largely cultivated under monoculture, fraught with a worrisome record of accelerating soil erosion, stagnating yields and mounting plant health problems. By adding diversity to cropping systems, production efficacy can be boosted, while conferring system stability, resilience and overall ecological sustainability. Diversification can contribute to pest control through herbivore suppression, natural enemy enhancement and improving the resilience of crops to herbivory.

Economic/Sustainable Development

Our solution has resulted in a more responsible production contributing to better access to premium markets, and a reduction of on-farm costs and negative externalities. The conservation of natural landscapes has resulted in a high return of public investment, because beneficiaries are not only wineries but also the surrounding communities through education, special interest tourism, and enhancing Chile´s image abroad, through the recognition of its people’s identity and culture.

Climate

Biodiversity contributes to both mitigation and adaptation of climate change. Conserved or restored forests remove carbon dioxide from atmosphere. Forests act as a sponge by storing water in soils and recharging ground waters, which deliver water in hotter periods. Furthermore, managing landscape structure by including natural ecosystems in a matrix of cropland can reduce local climate warming alleviating the negative impact of extreme weather events (drought, extreme heat, flooding).

Sustainability

Our conservation initiative is hosted by a scientific institute funded long term (10 years) by the government. Our main funder is the government through grants awarded by the Science and Technology Agency (CONICYT) and the Ministry of Economy (Milenio and CORFO). Our partner wineries and Chile’s main wine producer’s association have funded specific activities within our conservation program including training and research. Additionally, we offer specific services such as biodiversity inventories and inquiry trails to vineyards. Our agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture will grant us access to different financial opportunities with a larger role of the private sector, which will prove crucial to the Program’s long-term sustainability

Return on investment

We invest between 48000-60000 US dollars per year including salaries and operational costs. Our main return on investment has been the approval to continue our funding after yearly evaluations performed by government agencies through peer review and international panels. Our Program has been particularly praised in each stage of funding renewal for our host institution, the IEB (evaluation available upon request). We are one of the very few initiatives in Chile that bring together scientific institutions and the private sector. Given that environmental regulation and conservation practices are underdeveloped in Chile, government funding is still very necessary through direct funding and incentives (tax exemption, etc) to the industry.

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How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

Our solution can be replicated in all productive areas that rely on natural resources, in any geographical region. The South African Cape Region established a similar conservation initiative in 2004 that reached one third of the South African Wine industry, and led to developing a sustainable agriculture program with the support of WWF. In Chile we will work with berries and nuts with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture. For this we need to work with trader and producer associations to train the whole production chain as we have done with the wine industry. The success of these initiatives will need farmer enthusiasm and trust based on scientific evidence and market incentives. We need more extensionists, an almost non-existent figure in Chile. Through the Ministry we will reach new financial tools that will allow access to different stakeholders. We showed that we need changes in attitudes, developing leadership is essential to catalyze actions beyond individual farm limits.

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Overview