Initiatives that impact the lives of millions: “Ruta Carahue Navegable” was recognized by El Mercurio and Caja Los Andes

Seventy innovative and sustainable projects in Chile were highlighted for their role in improving the lives of people domestically and even abroad. CMPC has a role in three of the ten recognized initiatives, two of which are in the “Collaboration and Partnerships” category with one in the “Future Generation” category.

In the special edition, the El Mercurio newspaper and the Caja Los Andes highlighted 70 “inspiring, scalable and high-impact initiatives in Chile that take a sustainable and innovative stance, serving as a demonstration of the hundreds of disruptive ideas that aim to create public value for improving the quality of life of people in the country and oftentimes even internationally.”

“Navigable Carahue” is a tourist river route that reclaims life on the Imperial River in the Region of La Araucanía, which is promoted by CMPC, the Municipality of Carahue and local actors. It was recognized in the “Collaboration and Alliances” category where it was highlighted as an example of “projects that impact the lives of millions of people, through the association of unlikely peers, the building of trust and joining of forces in order to address the challenges that Chile is currently dealing with.”

The initiative, which began operations in 2019, arose in response to the desire of the Carahue community to restore the fluvial heritage of the Imperial River, boost tourism along with the local economy, while promoting sustainable development and social cohesion.

Through new docks, signs, walkways and multiple facilities, the route has taken the river back to its ancestral role, with many new workers trained and entrepreneurs on hand to deliver a top-notch tourism experience. Today, hundreds of tourists make the trip throughout the year to enjoy an experience offered by the river, surrounding nature, local culture and its people.
The article says, “The successful execution of the Navigable Carahue project is an example of how collaboration between the public and private worlds can achieve great changes in a community. Tourism has gotten a big boost thanks to the efforts and commitment of both sectors.”

Additionally, two other initiatives that CMPC is part of were highlighted in the “Collaboration and Alliances” category. The private non-profit organization “Red de Alimentos” [Food Network], which created the first food bank in Chile, was described as, “A project that has developed an efficient and traceable process, generating a sustainable model of triple impact; social, environmental and economic.”

Together with CMPC, it created the first community pantry in the Puente Alto district of Santiago. Inaugurated in 2022, it benefits more than 2,000 local seniors, delivering an average of eight kilos of products per person each week. These include agricultural goods, dairy products, a range of groceries, beverages, snacks, toiletries and personal hygiene items.

Desafío Levantemos Chile [the Support Chile Challenge] – an organization created in response to the 2010 earthquake and tsunami as a community enterprise that brings together public and private resources to deliver innovative solutions to communities in emergency situations – was selected as an innovative initiative.

CMPC is one of its main partners. The project “works together with families to understand their needs in order to come up with sustainable solutions to public problems, empowering civil society and motivating people to take action and build a Chile with greater opportunities,” highlights El Mercurio.

In partnership with CMPC, they advanced the reconstruction of Santa Olga after the fires that devastated this community in the Maule Region during the summer of 2017. They also developed the “Desafío Agua para Chile” [Water for Chile Challenge], an initiative that seeks to facilitate access to drinking water in rural communities in south-central Chile where there isn’t any. To date, more than a thousand families now have water for human and productive consumption in their homes thanks to this project.

Additionally, Kyklos was recognized in the “Future Generation” category, which acknowledges innovative projects whose goals are to “provide children and adolescents with the tools and skills demanded by the 21st century, and empower them to take on global challenges as their own so they can become the protagonists of their own lives.”

Since 2012 it has operated in collaboration with organizations, schools, companies, municipalities and communities to develop high-impact solutions that promote a more sustainable culture as an initiative that “seeks opportunities in environmental problems,” according to El Mercurio.

One of its notable projects is “Desafío Comuna Sin Basura” [Trash-free Neighborhoods], an initiative promoted by CMPC and executed by Kyklos in collaboration with municipalities and local organizations, which seeks to develop local work around recycling in eight districts in the regions of Maule, Biobío and La Araucanía.

In its three years of operation, more than 1,800 homes have joined in to recover 73 tons of waste and was even recognized as the “Best Public Management Project” by the Chilean-British Chamber of Commerce.