Forestal Arauco SA
A waterfall in Chile has achieved the country’s first FSC Cultural Ecosystem Services certification. The recognition marks a milestone for the Chilean forestry sector, becoming the second certification of its kind in the world.
FSC and PEFC certificationSoil Association Certification has recently issued our first certification of Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) Cultural Ecosystem Services to Forestal Arauco SA.
This is a significant recognition granted by the FSC, acknowledging the spiritual significance of the waterfall for the Hueima Indigenous Community.
The certification is the result of a collaborative effort between ARAUCO, the community, and the local municipality, to protect the site's unique attributes and ensure their long-term preservation.
The milestone also sets an important precedent for the forestry sector. If is the first Cultural Ecosystem Services certification awarded to a company in Chile and only the second worldwide. It broadens the traditional understanding of the benefits provided by forests and their ecosystems by recognising their cultural and spiritual values alongside their environmental functions.
For the local Mapuche community, Hueima is a place intrinsically connected to the forest, water, learning, and the transmission of ancestral knowledge. This cultural dimension has been at the heart of the process, which brought the parties together in a collaborative working group to establish a respectful approach to managing and protecting the site.
The FSC is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting responsible forest management based on environmental, social, and economic principles.
In addition to its core forest management certification, FSC offers a tool for verifying ecosystem services, which are the specific benefits that ecosystems provide to society. These services may relate to water, biodiversity, soil, carbon, recreation or cultural values.
What the certification recognises
In the case of Hueima, the certification falls under (Ecosystem Services) ES6: Cultural practices and values, specifically recognising the maintenance of cultural and ancestral knowledge, practices, and language.
"This certification broadens the way we understand the value of forests. At Hueima, we are not only talking about environmental conservation, but also about memory, identity, and the transmission of knowledge. It recognises the connection that the Indigenous Community has maintained with this place, as well as the collaborative work we have undertaken to protect it and ensure its preservation for future generations."
ARAUCO already had previous experience with FSC Ecosystem Services certification at Oncol Park, in the municipality of Valdivia, where certification focused on tourism, recreation, and birdwatching, and at Forel, in the Maule Region, where it recognised the provision of drinking water through watershed management and protection.
In Hueima, however, the focus is different: the certification specifically recognises the Mapuche cultural value of the waterfall and the actions required to safeguard it.
Learning while conserving
The certified area covers 1.9 hectares surrounding the waterfall and its immediate environment. As part of the process, walking trails, viewing platforms, interpretive panels, and species signage in Mapudungun (Mapuche’s language) have been installed. Sensitive areas, visitor guidelines, and measures to ensure that tourism does not compromise the site's spiritual character have also been established.
"The aim is to manage access to the waterfall so that people can experience it without losing what makes it culturally and spiritually significant," Ancalaf emphasises.
Territorial governance
The initiative also includes a public and community governance component. At the request of the Hueima Indigenous Community, progress has been made toward granting the Municipality of Lanco a free usufruct agreement over the land surrounding the waterfall. This arrangement would facilitate future applications for public funding to support low-impact infrastructure and conservation initiatives.
The Hueima certification represents a major milestone for territorial management in the Los Ríos Region, recognising that a forest property can embody values that go beyond production and environmental conservation to also encompass culture, memory and spirituality.
