In Danger: Magellanic Penguins

Magellanic Penguin (photo: San Francisco Zoo)

E-LAW advocates at Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA) in Santiago, Chile, report a major victory protecting a colony of 6,000 Magellanic penguins threatened by an ill-advised charcoal mining project in southern Chile’s Patagonia region.

On April 30, 2004, the Court of Appeals of Punta Arenas declared that Chile’s Regional Environmental Commission acted illegally and arbitrarily when it approved a charcoal mining project for a site near famous penguin breeding grounds, 65 kilometers north of Punta Arenas on the Otway Inlet in the Chilean Antarctic. The proposed project lacked a satisfactory environmental impact assessment.

Between September and April each year, 6,000 Magellanic penguins return to their nesting site along the Brunswick Peninsula to lay their eggs and raise their young. These penguins (Speniscus magellanicus) are the largest of the warm-weather penguins.

Chile’s Patagonia region is home to spectacular and diverse ecosystems providing critical habitat to an enormous variety of plants and animals. E-LAW U.S. celebrates FIMA’s work protecting Chile’s natural heritage.