Context & location

Context & location

The LCI III, which focuses on Building a Framework to Conserve the Coastal Land and Plain Watersheds of Chiloé, considers four specific communities: Quemchi, Dalcahue, Castro and Quellón. The particular task covered in this report is supporting the development of strategic planning, delivery of a collaborative workshop, and the execution of land planning scenario exhibits,as described in Goal 2, along the wetlands system within the Rilán Peninsula, part of the Municipality of Castro.

References

Castro is one of the main human settlements within the GreaterIsland of Chiloé, and it is one its ten communal districts as well as its provincial capital. Located, 1,214 kilometers south of Santiago, Castro was founded in 1567, and it is considered the third oldest city in Chile. The size of the Castro communal districtis 473km²and, according to the census of 2017, it has a population of 43,807 inhabitants, of which 77,7% live within urban land. According to the Secretariat of Communal Planning at the Municipality of Castro, Urban Castro is roughly 134.44 km²(28%), itcurrently has a Communal Land-use Plan from 2004 –which is due to be updated–and the overall commune has a Communal Development Plan (PLADECO) that currently covers the period 2018-2022. Rural Castro is currently under this plan, with an estimated size of338.56 km²(72%).

According to the Communal Land-use Plan, by 2004Castro was divided into nearly 3,224land holdings, of which 78% have a sizeunder 10 hectares,while95% of them are under 20 hectares, therefore only 5% of these land holdings are above 20 hectares in size. Given this fragmentation of land ownership, the Communal Land-use Plan narrative document considers Castroa rural smallholdings system.

Communal Land-use Plans in Castro 2

The first Plan was developed and approved in 1961 andwas in force over a thirty-year period. The second version of the Communal Land-use Plan was approved in 1991 and was revised through technical studies by the national consulting firm URBE between 1997 and 1999. Such studies were intended to approvea newversion of the Plan that did not see the light, however, the processled to a partial and controversial amendment in 2000. The third version of the Plan was approved in 2007 which introduced, among other amendments, the reduction in size of Castro’surban boundaries. Finally, the core of the Plan currently in force is the 2007-approved version, with amendments introduced in 2008 –while there is a proposed partial amendment process currently in place since 2019, aimed at preserving the existing Iglesia San Francisco, part of the Churches of Chiloé- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, representing unique examplesin Latin America of an outstanding form of ecclesiastical wooden architecture.

The fact that the 2007 Communal Land-use Plan in Castro is currently in the process of being amended through a proposed project to change the maximum building height allowed within Castro’s foundational plateau, opens a window to introduce aspects that could help enhance the protection of Castro’s coastal wetlands system adjacent to growing existing human settlements, like Putemún or Rilán, by expanding the urban boundary, opening up the possibility of using the new Urban Wetlands Law to protect theseglobally significant natural assets.

Based on recent conversations with Francisco Javier Aguilar, the current architect-in-charge of the amendment process, ourunderstanding isthat theMunicipality of Castrohas the intention to go beyond the aforementionedpartial amendment, meaning they willdevelop a fourth full-version of a newCommunal Land-use Plan in the very near future. As part of this intention, the Municipality has conducted an online survey to evaluate the current Communal Land-use Plan with questions that relate to environmental issues. This survey will help determine the need for funding that the process will require, in order to request financial supportfrom the designated authorities, topotentially starting the update process by the end of 2020. According to the aforementioned architect, the new version is expected to become the first Communal Land-use Plan to appropriately address the commune’s planning issues through local

pertinence, something that, according to Aguilar, the first three versions were unable to provide. This is a very important piece of information, since, it opens a real opportunity for an upgrade to the current Communal Land-use Plan in Castro –which does not comply with tsunami related flood risk boundaries, among other resiliency provisions–embracing a potential urban boundary expansion, that could includethe village of Rilán, which has already been identified as a future development hub by the Municipality and a planning priority within the Castro Communal Development Plan 2018-2022 and the Castro Tourist Interest Zone (ZOIT) Action Plan, due to its environmental, tourist and cultural values, among other attributes and characteristics 3 .

Castro Communal Development Plan 2018-2022

As mandated by Law N° 18.695, this is one of the communal planning tools that exist to steerdevelopment –in this case urban and rural–andguide specific actions that satisfy the needs of the local community, by promoting their social, economic, environmental and cultural advancement.

While non-legally binding, the current Communal Development Plan (PLADECO) 2018-2022 covers multiple dimensions and aspects of development with respect to the communal district. This section will cover mainly the physical, operative and strategic variables and challenges, directly or indirectly affecting the wetlands system within the Rilán Peninsulaas per the current PLADECO.

According to this plan, (some of) the challenges are:

To achieve environmental sustainability

• increase public space and green areas within the commune • evaluate current state of the environmental conditions within the commune • promote and incentivize participation and environmental awareness within the commune • protect and promote the use of natural resources • adopt renewable energy efficiently within the communal economic activities • provide an optimal amount of green areas within the commune

To achieve territorial integration

• communal land planning • local road planning • paving of basic road system • providing express physical connectivity within communal land • deliver appropriate urbanization conditions within the commune • enable access to communication systems, cellular and internet. • enable appropriate urban and rural electrification

To achieve tourism and cultural development

• strengthen tourism and culture institutions • disseminate tourism and cultural programs offered within the commune • promote capacity building among tourism and culture organizers • strengthen tourism and cultural programs • provide appropriate tourism and cultural facilities within the commune • deliver a Tourism Development Plan (PLADETUR) with a six-year horizon • deliver an updated Communal Cultural Plan

Based on the above challenges, among others, the PLADECO proposes the following vision, mission and objective image

“Castro in the community's heart. Tourism capital of Chiloé, highly competitive municipal district in the realm of special interest tourism, offering innovative products and experiences with identity,

inclusiveness and social integration, offering security to the local community, the visitors, and the

tourists.”

How would this aspiration be achievable and what precarious situations should get solved?

The current PLADECO proposes ‘building an inclusive community focused on the need to strengthen and promote a balanced development of the communal district, respecting identity, natural resources, traditions, culture and community involvement.’

Finally, ‘strengthening and promoting social equity within the community and their territory, enhancing the quality of the road infrastructure and tourism, and improving the many conditions relating with green areas, services, education, health and capacity building among the community, to make this dream possible.’

Strategic guidelines toward a collectively established objective image

• Safeguarding the environmental sustainabilityof the commune for generations to come • Promoting territorial integration toward the development of a system of settlements • Guarding social equity to guarantee human development • Promoting economic competitiveness toward the development of productive assets and services • Enhancing municipal management toward providing better services to the community • Improving tourism and culture to formalize these industries and increase their quality

The Rilán Peninsula: Castro, Putemún, Pullao, Rilán

Within the Rilán Peninsula, CECPAN has recognized the importance of three wetlands that are located along the coast: Putemún, Pullao and Rilán. Two of these present higher concentrations of humansliving in their proximity, according to a study from 2019 4 . These are Putemún and Rilán. However, of these two, the one with more potential for a formal planning process –according to the Municipalityof Castro–is the village of Rilán, given its location, shape, community character, influence, growth potential and already available public infrastructure and utilities.

Putemún vsRilán

Putemún is an undeniablyrelevant coastal wetland due to its size and natural value, especially as a habitat for migratory shorebirds. It also has more permanent influence from built structures than other coastal wetlands like Pullao or Rilán. In a 2017 assessment conducted by CECPAN, the number of buildings identified inside a 500-meter range from the Putemún wetland’s coastline was 705, within a 1290-acres area(0.55dwelling units/acre). Conversely, Rilán had 326buildings in the same terrestrial rangefrom the wetland’s coastline, covering 773 acres (0.42 dwelling units/hectare). However, according to the same assessment, in Rilán more than half of those buildings –176–are within 300 meters from the main square, an area of 70acres(2.51 dwelling units/acre).

While presenting a slightly higher demographic density around the wetlands, as a spatial unit, Putemún lacks several physical, social, cultural and historic attributes and characteristics, as well as land-use diversityand community character, ascompared to Rilán. Hence, for the sake of answering the question ‘How might we integrate the different land uses on high conservation value coastal areas –natural and cultural- to advance sustainable development in Chiloé? Rilán will provide a richer prototypical contextto visualize the planning potential of a future sustainable land-use and development model, with the latest regulations and best practice planning solutions applied.

Connections, relationships & distances

The village of Rilán is located on the southeast coastof the Rilán Peninsula. It is connected by land with the city of Castro through the existing road system. It is also connected by land with Chañihué –among several coastline destinations across the Castrodistrict–on the west coast of the Peninsula, which is only 2.8 kilometers across the water from the City of Castro. While at the moment there are no official water connections between the City of Castro and the Rilán Peninsula, and the currently existing shellfish extraction operations is on this maritime space, it seems natural that in the near future both sides of the ocean will connect. There are many examples like this in the world, especially on archipelagos, where water connections are the norm. In some cases, urban areas like the City of Castro, become the main business and services hub for broader settlements, where neighboring areas become complementary developments for people who decide to live with more space and peace, while still working in the city, commuting back and forth daily.

While we are not encouraging the expansion of the city across the water, our goal is toillustratea scenario –which is very likely to happen in the near future–that would certainly put pressure on the Peninsula –and on property value–in a way that has not yet been foreseen by any planning processor vision in the area. We consider the use of the water as a shortcut to access the Rilán Peninsula to be simply apotential geographic adaptation, therefore, we will briefly explore how this scenario would affect the village of Rilán as a destination, and the existing land along the connecting roads, which are steadily being paved, should an official maritime portal be open from Castroto a future dedicated wharf in Chañihué: Rilán miles Peninsula

• Castro –Chañihuévia Land: • Castro –Chañihué via Water: • Chañihué –Rilán: • Castro –Putemún –Rilán: 21.4 Km

2.8 Km

13.7 Km 26.4 Km

Castro

Internal

2.8Km

1.8 waters

Chañihué

Figure 5 | Potential urban expansion in Castro -Source: own elaboration, using Google Earth

From a tourism perspective,considering the goal of consolidating a sustainable, cultural and natural valuebased attractions of the archipelago, this expansion is a complement of the already robust higher-end hospitality infrastructure available on the westside of the Peninsula. Hence, implementing a water bus or water taxi service would be an enabling solution to access the hotelsin the area, which may even have interest in operating it.It would also expedite access to the Peninsula, which, according to the Municipality of Castro, concentrates most tourism and leisure activities in the commune, where Rilán, Quehui and Chelin concentrate 32% of all attractions, 92% of them being cultural, mostly near the coastline.

Figure 6 | Location of tourist attractions in Castro -Source: ZOIT, 2015

Ecosystems and species in need of protection

The Municipality of Castro has identified the value of natural ecosystems and recognizes the need for protection, on both terrestrial, costal and marine environments.

The coastal ecosystems of the Chiloense region, which include canals, estuaries, internal waters and fjords arelocated in an estimated 10,700 linear kilometers of coastline. The Rilán Peninsula has been recognized as one of the highest ecologically important coastal areas within this region.

The province harbors nearly ten wetland systems 5 classified in peatbogs and coastal wetlands that are very rich in birdlife. According to the Municipalityof Castro, nearly 80 bird species use these wetlands for breeding, resting, and reproduction. In 2011, the Ministry of National Assets signed an agreement with several Municipalities in the archipelago, that established “the Heritage Route of Chiloé: wetlands, birlife and culture” to integrate natural and cultural values, especially connecting important sites, with a focus on tourism.Castro’s Secretariat of Communal Planning hasnot identified landscape units per se, however, recent municipal assessments (2018) derived in a new tool named Indicators of Indentity and Cultural Landscape Quality which aims at measuring and enhancing the relationship of Castro’s citizens and the territory they live in, derived from their own perception of wellbeing. According to the community:

1. 2.

3.

4. communal planning should enhance the community’s quality of life; communal identity and how the community values their cultural landscape influences their quality of life; communal planning has produced a disassociation between the elements of the local landscape and human occupation patterns; Castro’s identity and how the community values its cultural landscape depend on a series of cultural elements that are not valued homogenically by all members of the community, therefore there needs to be a planning process that recognizes and is based on this diversity of perceptions.

Castro’s coastal wetlands attract people due to their beauty and biological functions. At the same time, they act as buffers to mitigate the energy of sea waves and storm surges, as well as against rising sea levels in the context of global climate change. Some of these events can violently impact the coast, causing beach erosion, damaging coastal infrastructure, and producing detriment tocoastal fisheries. As long as coastal wetlands are maintained, these impacts will be significantly less. Furthermore, if the connection between coastal wetlands and “upstream” water sources is maintained or restored, the former can accumulate sediment and partially offset the effects of rising sea levels. Therefore, it is essential to protect coastal wetlands, prevent their disappearance, their filling, and the elimination of their fundamental environmental functions. This is especially important considering the topography of Rilán, where vulnerability and exposure to tsunamis, storm surges, and sea level rise is quite evident(Figs. 7-8).

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Rilán Wetland

Tsunami Inundation RiskZone

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Rilán Wetland

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Land BelowSafetyElevation or Tsunami Inundation RiskZone BirdlifeResting Area Rilán Wetland Boundary

Tsunami Inundation Risk Map, based on ESRI - International Tsunami Information Center [Referential]

Figure 7 | Source: own elaboration

4.90 Km

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Rilán Wetland

Sea-level Rise RiskZone

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Referential Sea-level Rise Map, based on Coastal Risk Screening Tool –Climate Central [Referential]

SCALEBAR

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Legend

Land Projected to be BelowAnnual Flood Level in 2050

BirdlifeResting Area Rilán Wetland Boundary

Mid-range (Kopp et al. 2014;

highly cited): Globally-extensive localprojectionsproviding differentrangesoffuturesealevelriseunderdifferentclimate pollutionscenarios; widelycited andused. Builtonaverage globalprojections fromthe IntergovernmentalPanelon ClimateChange(IPCC)Fifth AssessmentReport(2013). Full citation: Koppetal. (2014). Probabilistic21stand22nd centurysea levelprojectionsata globalnetworkof tide gauge sites. Earth's Future, 2(8), 383–406.

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