In this episode of Smart Forests Radio, we talk with Felipe Ortega, a biologist and park ranger at Villarrica National Park in
Chile
's Araucanía region, about intercultural engagements with communities and ecosystems. Felipe outlines how
participatory governance
, environmental education, and ecosystems
monitoring
using
camera traps
and
drones
come together to address threats to cultural and ecological priorities in the
territory
. He notes that territorial management and protection is shaped by customary practices and
community participation
. The discussion shows how the park has become a social and geographical hub, facilitating collaboration between communities and organisations such as the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) in responding to environmental events like forest fires.
Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys, Pablo González Rivas, and Paula Tiara Torres
Producer: Harry Murdoch
Listen on Apple and Spotify
Language note: this interview takes place in Spanish.
This radio episode was produced by the Smart Forests project funded by the European Research Council. Smart Forests is led by Professor Jennifer Gabrys and is based in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge.
Header image: Drone view from Bosque Pehuén of Villarrica Volcano. Jennifer Gabrys, 2023.
Smart Forests Atlas materials are free to use for non-commercial purposes (with attribution) under a
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
To cite this radio episode:
Ortega, Felipe, Jennifer Gabrys, Pablo González Rivas, and Paula Tiara Torres, "Felipe Ortega: Intercultural Planning with Communities and Ecosystems," Smart Forests Atlas (2026), https://atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/felipe-ortega.