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“This uninhabited island, of almost 50,000 acres, has more than 44 miles of coastline and is home to a great variety of flora and fauna,” says the announcement, which also emphasizes the marine variety that inhabits the place, which includes ” blue, humpback, sei and southern right whales, as well as orcas and dolphins. “
As reported by the British newspaper The Guardian, the territory, which covers 50,000 hectares, can now be acquired by paying the sum of 20 million dollars. The advertisement, available on the Private Islands Inc company website, reports on an island “with more than 44 miles of coastline, which is home to a diverse flora and fauna.” Only one lighthouse, the only human construction in the territory, remains under the leadership of the Chilean Navy.
“Scandal: Guafo, the paradisiacal island in Chile that the Mapuches adore and the rich seek to buy for US $ 20 million,” the Argentine newspaper Clarín headlined when the news broke.
“The island of 20 thousand hectares was offered in the real estate market of the jet-set for 20 million dollars,” added the Argentine media.
Recognized as an area of great relevance, both culturally and in terms of biodiversity, the waters surrounding Guafo Island seek to be protected through the declaration of a Coastal Marine Space for Native Peoples (ECMPO).
Currently the island is jointly owned by businessmen Paul Fontaine and Rodrigo Danús, the latter nephew of General Luis Danús Covian, who served as Minister of Economy during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Environmental activists quickly denounced this appropriation of the territory and its waters to the highest bidder. “We are asking the Government to consider returning the island,” said Cristian Chiguay, lonko, or leader of eleven Lafquenche communities of Quillón, one of the groups that make up the native Mapuche people, which are part of a plan to conserve the ancestral fishing grounds of the island.
“The island is the entry point to the Gulf of Corcovado, which is the most important feeding ground for blue and humpback whales off the Chilean coast,” said Yacqueline Montecinos, WWF chief of marine biodiversity conservation, quoted by the British newspaper.
The media also assured that Guafo is one of the six Chilean islands currently for sale at Private Islands Inc. Its listing, however, would have been withdrawn from Sotheby’s Realty this week, apparently amidst media interest.
As the British newspaper points out, the territory is also home to the largest colony of shearwaters in the world, a colony of southern fur seals, a breeding population of endangered sea otters and Magellanic penguins. On the flora side, the area is also home to a rare species of Congonilla tree.
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