Concepción Daily | To conserve is to open the city

Dear Editor: Talking about conservation often raises a legitimate question: does protecting nature mean distancing ourselves from it? For years, conservation was understood as a gesture of distancing ourselves, especially in the urban context, but modern cities need just the opposite: to reconnect with nature in order to remain livable. While the establishment of a new institutional framework with the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service (SBAP) is progressing, Law 21.202 on Urban Wetlands has presented a series of challenges. To date, 136 urban wetlands have been declared in Chile, sparking doubts—from residents, businesses, and municipalities—about what can be done in these areas.

The truth is that ecosystems are also protected when we learn to inhabit them respectfully and develop infrastructure for sustainable use that connects communities with their natural heritage. At Fundación Cosmos, we promote a wetland park model where conservation and public use complement each other to enhance urban projects.

In the Biobío Region, together with the municipalities of Concepción, Hualpén, and Talcahuano, we are working on projects that regenerate degraded ecosystems and transform them into open, safe parks with a strong local identity. Conservation means opening pathways, opportunities, and new ways of relating to the territories we inhabit. In nature, there are no limits, only a shared possibility for the future.