MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tierra del Fuego creates a Protected Natural Area, covering 500,000 hectares of land and sea

Tierra del Fuego creates a Protected Natural Area, covering 500,000 hectares of land and sea

The provincial Executive of Tierra del Fuego, extreme south of Argentina, signed into law the bill creating the Protected Natural Area, Peninsula Mitre, unanimously sanctioned in early December by the local Legislative Assembly and covering some 500.000 hectares, 300.000 on land and the rest at sea.

The Executive now has 180 days to make the bill effective by complying with the different clauses established in the bill, and three years (December 2025) to present a management program for the conservation and maintenance of the different forested areas..

The Protected Natural Area Peninsula Mitre is located at the east vertex of the Grande Island in Tierra del Fuego and holds some 84% of the province's peat bogs. As to the maritime extension it also refers to the adjacent spaces of the Staten and New Year islands, plus all insular territories.

The Protected Area is made up of the 'Peninsula Mitre National Park', 'Natural Forestry Reserve Peninsula Mitre', the 'Natural Provincial Monument Slogett', the 'Natural Coast Reserve' and the 'Provincial Reserve for Multiple Uses'.

Each of these zones will have a special protection category, since some of them have productive activities, regulated by government, while other spaces are completely natural, banned for all activities.