Program

IPMEN 2012 Chile

Current plans are for conference delegates to initially travel to Santiago, Chile for a day of formal conference keynote speakers and meetings with government officials from different Ministries to support local efforts by NGOs and Oceanographic Research Centers to develop marine education in formal and non-formal settings. This component of IPMEN 2012 will be held in a Santiago hotel with suitable conference facilities.

On second day, conference delegates will take half a day to fly from Santiago to Balmaceda and then by bus to Coyhaique or Puerto Chacabuco. Later they will meet with local marine practitioners and learn about the effect of aquaculture and natural stressors upon Chilean fjords and the development of sustainable practices associated with fjord ecosystems (artisan fisheries, scientific tourism among others).

On the third day, we will be on the road again traveling either to Caleta Tortel or Puyuhuapi. Both places surrounded by exuberant landscape where the former is situated between the two major ice fields of the southern hemisphere and the latter near the Queulat Hanging Glacier, one of the closest to the Equator in the southern hemisphere. The small and remote township of Caleta Tortel is located at the mouth of the Baker River and has a population of around 500. Wooden boardwalks replace streets and sidewalks as the fishing village is built on rocky hills. Puyuhuapi, another fishing village founded by German settlers and Mapuche natives from Chiloe island in 1935, has a similar population to Tortel and is located at the head of the Puyuhuapi fjord, just minutes away from its renown thermal hotsprings.

The bus trip and two days in one of these remote locations offer an ideal format for a more informal approach to developing the conference theme, network building and the establishment of collaborative international projects. Activities will be organized at the local schools to meet the youngsters and thereby offer both sides a rewarding intercultural experience.