Uruguay’s establishment on Sept. 1 of the Islas del Queguay Protected Area culminated over three decades of planning and advocacy by conservationists and scientists in support of the project. (Courtesy photo)
Uruguay has established a new protected area, but local enthusiasm for the move has been tempered by plans for a huge plant nearby dedicated to the production of low-carbon synthetic fuels known as e-fuels. The new protected area, the country’s 21st, is called Islas del Queguay and covers some 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) of islands, sandbanks, coastal forests, and wetlands where the Queguay Grande River flows into the Uruguay River near the country’s border with Argentina. Considered an area of high conservation value, the Islas del Queguay hosts 178 species of birds and 100 species of fish. Fifty of the fish species are classified as conservation priorities—among them the river stingray (Potamotrygon brachyura) made famous by Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga’s haunting 1918 short story “El paso del Yabebirí,” or “The Yabebirí Crossing.” No one currently lives within the new protected area. Getting there requires traveling by boat... [Log in to read more]
