So yesterday was the first day of the project. The other four members, our leader, and I met on a zoom call. There, we talked about the goals for the upcoming 8 weeks, with a special focus on this upcoming week. There are plans to get to meet people from the community of Neltume, a small rural community in the south of Chile. I am excited to get to engage with them.
The tasks we are doing this week involve researching several key points that will guide the rest of the project, such as finding out the difference between biosphere reserves and biological reserves. This has to do with UNESCO, so I’m going to try and contact them and get the information straight from the source if I can. This difference will be key in our studies, as the Huilo Huilo foundation (the organization we are working with this summer that runs a biological reserve in Neltume) would like us to evaluate how successful their nature reserve is through comparisons with other biosphere/biological reserves.
The only thing I’m still a little confused about is how we are going to connect with the community. Originally, we were supposed be working and being with local Neltume residents frequently, but now I think we are only going to be working with three workers for the Neltume foundation. I’m not quite sure how exactly this is going to work. Regardless, I am excited to finally start our work!