Beyond biodiversity: contributions of anthropology to marine conservation in Chile

Abstract

Over the last years, Marine Conservation became a key issue in the environmental field in Chile. Promoted by the current environmental political reforms and the compliance of the international biodiversity targets, Chile increased the number and coverage of Marine Protected Areas. Nevertheless, the creation of protected areas has produced transformations on local communities, revealing the importance of incorporating the human dimension in the management of biodiversity. This paper aims at presenting this new research theme for the socioenvironmental field in Chile, offering an overview of the main contributions of anthropology in the international context and the current discussion in the country. Based on this debate the paper explores the key issues of an analytical framework for the study of the human dimensions of marine conservation and its contributions for public policies.