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Argentina has a new protected natural area: the Miter Peninsula.
It is one of the most remote and pristine places in South America —in Tierra del Fuego, 3,100 kilometers south of Buenos Aires— but its protection is also key because of the capacity of this wetland to retain and accumulate carbon and because of the vast record of archaeological sites in the area.
The natural area protected by law covers nearly 300,000 terrestrial hectares and 200,000 marine hectares on the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, in the southernmost tip of Argentina.
On the surface, the main characteristic of the ecosystem are peat bogs, which are characterized by the accumulation of large deposits of semi-decomposed organic matter, known as peat.
Almost 85% of Argentina's peat bogs are concentrated in the Miter Peninsula and specialists point out that its capacity to retain and store carbon from the atmosphere is more efficient than that of forests.
"It's great news that we have this protected area," celebrates Verónica Pancotto, a Conicet researcher specializing in carbon flows and biogeochemical cycles in the ecosystems of Tierra del Fuego.
“Peat bogs are wetlands that have a large amount of water and that fix carbon because organic matter does not decompose but remains only partially decomposed and ends up deep, accumulated.
They can reach a depth of ten and up to twelve meters ”, she says.
Wetlands of the Miter Peninsula. COURTESY
Pancotto warns that this ecosystem is very fragile because it needs cold climates and a significant amount of surface water.
"It affects them if conditions change due to increased temperatures or contributions of nitrogen into the atmosphere," highlights this researcher, a member of the Austral Center for Scientific Research (Cadic).
Miter Peninsula is also important for its great biodiversity.
It has one of the best preserved underwater Macrocystis pyrifera forests in the world and humpback whales, dolphins, sea lions, penguins and the huillín, a critically endangered Patagonian otter that is fundamental to regulating the Fuegian ecosystem, feed in its waters.
Guanacos, red foxes and numerous species of birds inhabit its surface.
The approval of the Miter Peninsula protection law, carried out by the provincial legislature on December 7, is a victory for the environmental movement of Tierra del Fuego after 30 years of struggle.
The documentalist and activist Abel Sberna warns that the regulation "is a first big step", but now it is necessary to provide tools for effective protection to avoid catastrophes such as the one suffered in the reserve in the heart of Tierra del Fuego, hit by fires in recent weeks.
A large marine fauna lives in this territory.
COURTESY
The new regulations establish a three-year term to formulate a management and management plan for the reserve, in which an advisory commission made up of representatives of the Executive Branch, public universities, the Conicet, business and tourist chambers, and native communities will participate.
Archeological sites
Sberna emphasizes that the great environmental importance of Península Miter often overshadows its historical and cultural relevance.
“It houses, on the one hand, the record of native peoples who inhabited 7,000, 8,000 years ago, the Haush, who are among the first settlers of America.
On the other hand, there is the record of contemporary human settlements, such as cattle farms and sea lion colonies that are part of the history of our region”, she says.
In its rough waters, there are also the remains of numerous shipwrecks of European vessels from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
“The Strait of Magellan was one of the first interoceanic crossings and a large number of Spanish, Portuguese, English, Norwegian and other countries ships were wrecked.
Many of the shipwrecks have not been studied and are a very important testimony of a stage of navigation”, adds Sberna.
The underwater forests of the peninsula offer refuge and a breeding ground for invertebrates and fish.COURTESY