The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) will seek to integrate scientific knowledge with the ancestral wisdom of the Likanantay people in northern Chile.<\/p>\n
The <\/span>Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD)<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and <\/span>Filantrop\u00eda Cort\u00e9s Solari (FCS)<\/span><\/strong><\/a> announced the beginning of an international academic study titled “<\/span>Designing Resilient Futures in Water-Scarce Territories: Lessons from Atacama<\/strong>“<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n This initiative represents <\/span>the first milestone of the Elemental Mission Program<\/strong>, an initiative that seeks to generate applied knowledge, recommendations, and effective conservation models across a latitudinal network of FCS Elemental Reserves, distributed throughout Chile<\/p>\n This study will focus on the <\/span>Puribeter Elemental Reserve<\/span><\/strong>, located in San Pedro de Atacama<\/a> (23rd parallel South), and contemplates an intensive field phase to be carried out in early 2026. It will be led by Professor Pablo P\u00e9rez-Ramos<\/strong>, from Harvard GSD, and aims to rethink territorial design in contexts of climate crisis. “In Puribeter, water scarcity is not just a technical challenge, but a source of deep territorial knowledge,” explains the academic.<\/span><\/p>\n The research will seek a balance between contemporary science, water management, and the <\/span>ancestral wisdom of the Likanantay people<\/span><\/strong>, allowing Harvard graduate students to design solutions that respect the cultural and ecological identity of the territory.<\/span><\/p>\n The fieldwork, scheduled between February 21 and March 1<\/strong>, will include direct interactions with local communities, scientists, and authorities. The goal is to propose guidelines that can be transformed into public policies and sustainable development models for arid zones<\/a>, both in Chile and the rest of the planet.<\/span><\/p>\n The Elemental Mission program, promoted by Filantrop\u00eda Cort\u00e9s Solari through the <\/span>MERI Foundation<\/span><\/strong>, seeks to connect three points of the Chilean territory to produce applied knowledge: the <\/span>Puribeter Elemental Reserve<\/span><\/strong> (23\u00b0 S), the <\/span>Likandes Elemental Reserve<\/span><\/strong> in the central zone (33\u00b0 S), and the <\/span>Melimoyu Elemental Reserve<\/span><\/strong> in Northern Patagonia (44\u00b0 S).<\/span><\/p>\n This latitudinal network makes it possible to study diverse ecosystems, from extreme aridity to the temperate forests and pristine fjords of the south. <\/span><\/p>\n “Having Harvard work in a reserve in the heart of the Atacama Desert is a concrete bet on generating global solutions from the territory<\/strong>, integrating science, culture, and community,” noted Francisca Cort\u00e9s Solari, president of the namesake philanthropy.<\/span><\/p>\n It is expected that the design proposals and governance recommendations will be presented at high-impact international forums, such as <\/span>COP30<\/span><\/strong>, positioning Chile’s Elemental Reserves as benchmarks in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.<\/span><\/p>\nDesign and resilience in the driest desert in the world<\/span><\/h4>\n
A latitudinal conservation network<\/span><\/h4>\n