Omora Ethnobotanical Park

Omora Ethnobotanical Park is a protected area of Chile located 4 km (2 mi) west of Puerto Williams on Navarino Island in the extreme southern Magellan and Chilean Antarctica Region. The Omora Park is a research, education and conservation center for the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve. The park itself includes a representative variety subantarctic flora open to the public for formal and information education. Within its boundaries, one can find deciduous forests (Nothofagus antarctica and Nothofagus pumilio) and evergreen broadleaf forests (Nothofagus betuloides), as well as bogs and high-Andean ecosystems and diverse mosses, lichens and liverworts (termed the "Miniature Forests of Cape Horn" by Omora Park scientists).

Founding director Dr Ricardo Rozzi inaugurated the practice of "field environmental philosophy" at the Omora Park. Since its creation in 2000, the Omora Park and its partners and colleagues have gone on to lead a transdisciplinary biocultural conservation initiative that led to the creation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve. A consortium of institutions now support this program including the Omora Foundation, the Millennium Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB-Chile)and the University of Magallanes in Chile, and the University of North Texas and the Center for Environmental Philosophy in the United States.

One example of the way the Omora Park attempts to link theory and practice can be found in the Tourism with a Hand Lens initiative. In 2008, the Omora Park received the "Science and Practice of Ecology and Society Award", given by the Foundation for Scientific Synthesis.

In spite of the achievements, the Omora Park has not been without some controversy with the local community. In 2009, the leaders of the four citizen organizations, including the Cape Horn Tourism Association, the Neighborhood Association, the Puerto Williams Fisherman's Union and the Yahgan Community of Mejillones Bay, signed an open letter to the Regional Council (Radio Polar, 10 August 2009) to contest the further expansion of the park and to question its role with the local community.