Docente Activo program in Altos de Cantillana: An amazing encounter with the resilience of the sclerophyll forest

One of the objectives of this first milestone of our Active Teacher program in the Metropolitan Region (RM) was to bring educational communities closer to local ecosystems and emphasize their importance. Held at the Altos de Cantillana Nature Reserve with teachers and students from Novomar School, this event saw over 30 participants explore part of the reserve and learn about the ecological and cultural role of this area, recognized as one of the 35 biodiversity hotspots (IUCN 2013), critical sites for global biodiversity conservation due to its species richness, high endemism, and vulnerability to human pressure.

The visit was guided by natural space mediators, who created conditions for a direct encounter between students, teachers, and the biodiversity of this ecosystem. The Altos de Cantillana Nature Reserve is an exceptional site, located in the Coastal Mountain Range, home to threatened species and those with restricted geographic distribution, such as the Santiago oak (Nothofagus macrocarpa) or high Andean species typically found at higher altitudes in the Andes. Shaped by environmental conditions such as altitude, the presence of water bodies, slopes, and exposure, this environment harbors a great diversity of ecosystems and species, many of them endemic to Chile, such as the boldo (Peumus boldus), litre (Lithraea caustica), or chagual (Puya alpestris subsp. zoellneri).

“In the RM, we have valuable biodiversity, and the invitation is to connect with it,” said Manuela Méndez, our foundation’s learning director, who emphasized the importance of bringing educational communities closer to their natural surroundings as a strategy to promote ecosystem care through the incorporation of environmental practices and experiences into the school curriculum. She also highlighted that the experience “allowed us to marvel and learn from the resilience of nature, a theme that has guided the Active Teacher program for 2024. Observing trees sprouting strongly from their roots after being affected by a fire this summer, hearing the water singing in streams that had been dry for years, and silently contemplating the mirror-like surface of Laguna de Aculeo deeply moved and inspired us to think humbly about the many possibilities for life that nature teaches us.”

For Fernanda Romero, the Education Program Coordinator of this protected area, the sclerophyll forest is key to the central zone of the country as it provides valuable ecosystem services to the inhabitants of the basin. “The air we breathe, the water retained by the soil, and the scenic beauty are deeply connected to this type of forest,” she explained. She also emphasized its biocultural value, stating that “this forest revives memories that are part of the cultural identity and the way territories are inhabited.”

Exploring the Maipo River Basin

The importance of water as a source of life and the connection of the inhabitants with the Maipo River basin was another theme explored with the teachers who participated in this experience. Manuela Méndez explained that approximately 80% of the drinking water that supplies the RM comes from this river basin and reflected on the deep connections between the inhabitants and the basin. “The Maipo River basin is an interconnected system of veins and watercourses, just like our own body, which is mostly composed of water. The water I drink, which comes from the Maipo River, becomes part of my own body (for example, in the plasma of my blood or the cytoplasm of my cells),” she concluded.