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Latin American countries presently rely on the expansion and strengthening of their National Parks and Reserves (NPR) systems as the “safest” investment in conservation (1). Consistent with this view, nature conservation organizations are seeking to double the land area protected in each nation from the current average of 5%(2). This high-priority effort aims to prevent the massive loss of biodiversity that is anticipated as a result of global trends in land use (3, 4). Here we assess whether an initiative of this kind will lead to more effective biodiversity preservation in the confined and endangered temperate forests of southern South America (5, 6).

South American temperate forests occur along a narrow but latitudinally extensive strip of land between 35º and 55ºS, centered in south-central Chile (see the figure). The strong biogeographic isolation of southern temperate forests eliminates the possibility that forests …