THREATENED BIODIVERSITY AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM IN CHILE

The extinction of biodiversity is recognized as an environmental probl em in Chile. This recognition comes from both environmentalists and wi ldlife biologists. However, their evaluations about the conservation s tatus of the biota are strikingly different, depicting opposite views regarding it within administrative regions of Chile, Those regions whe re the threats to the native biota are considered of lower importance by environmentalists are precisely the regions where wildlife biologis ts detect the higher numbers of threatened species and viceversa. This discrepancy demonstrates that different perceptions of the natural so urroundings may occur not only between different social groups but als o within alike groups.