World wetlands day and opening of the new visiting center of Maipo River Wetland Natural Park
On Monday, February 2, the new Visitor's center of the park was opened, which includes a multipurpose room and an outdoor exhibition and education space. The new interpretive signage will also be inaugurated for the tour of the trails. The ceremony will be attended by the Mayor of Santo Domingo, Fernando Rodríguez Larraín, besides representatives of Fundación Mar Adentro and Fundación Cosmos. The new infrastructure will be located at the entrance of Marbella Beach in Santo Domingo.
Project under construction
The wetland park, Parque Humedal Río Maipo represents an important natural habitat for marine seabirds and freshwater birds, including a large variety of migratory birds. Wetlands are important ecosystems on the planet. They concentrate a huge variety of life and fulfill an essential role in nature, due to their ability to:
- Regulate the water and climate cycle
- Contribute to control floods and droughts
- Generate water resources for freshwater supply
- Establish areas of use for human activities such as tourism and sustainable fishing
Maipo River Wetland Natural Park
It is estimated that wetlands cover a surface of approximately 778 million hectares worldwide, something like 9% of global surface.
Specialized tourism attracts every year a large number of visitors at an international and national level, which is beneficial for local economy and culture. It also provides a variety of ecosystemic services of great cultural, esthetic, recreational and educational value. This park is an open space where one can observe ecological processes, learn and interpret in an intuitive and sensory manner natural phenomena, and, most importantly, understand our interdependence and ancestral relationship with this kind of landscape.
In this context, the Municipality of Santo Domingo, together with Fundación Mar Adentro and Fundación Cosmos seek to protect this ecosystem and promote its sustainable use in terms of research, environmental education and as a center for tourism development.
