In the last six months, The young man from Angostura, Alejo Apochian, has become an ambassador of his town in France. The 21-year-old boy was selected from among applicants from all over South America to participate in the “Mountains and Lakes” initiative, led by the civil organization Tetraktys dedicated to promoting sustainable tourism and cultural projects. He has been volunteering in that country since December.
He studied Biology and pursued a career as a park ranger in the province of Córdoba. But when he was in the second year of his degree, he learned of an incipient project between the municipalities of Villa La Angostura and Vila Traful and, France, linked to tourism and hikingtwo of his great passions.
«French and Argentine partners came together to promote an exchange of experiences between mountain territories focusing on climate change and hiking tourism. On the Argentine side, La Angostura, Traful and National Parks participated; on the French side three municipalities and the French Embassy in Argentina. When the possibility of volunteering in France opened up, I sent my CV and I was selected,” he said.
«This exchange – he added – arose when the French detected the tourism potential of our region. This does not mean that they will tell us how to do things, but that they will give us tools and then each one will see if they take them or not.
During his stay in France, Alejo toured the project’s partner municipalities, identifying topics of common interest with Villa La Angostura and Villa Traful and organizing educational and tourism management activities. His mission was to investigate “The future of mountain communities in the face of climate change,” including multiple interviews with local youth. This report was already presented in the auditorium of the Grenoble Museum, in a round table where scientists, mayors and technicians participated. Alejo stood out with his research on the adaptation of mountain territories to climate change.
«For six months I have been volunteering in civic service for this project and I have been able to compare and learn about the realities of another mountain territory that today is crossed by the same challenges and problems as Patagonia due to tourism and climate alterations«, he defined.
He said that the objective was “to make field visits to understand how tourism works in France and the actions they carry out to counteract climate change. We organize all kinds of events to present, in turn, Patagonia, with presentations in schools, we have even shown a film and then, we set up a debate, with tastings of local food.
During this period, a French volunteer, in turn, visited La Angostura and Traful for three weeks where he also implemented various actions.
What caught your attention in France? Alejo responded that it is “a centralized state where the set of authorities of the municipality, the communities and the region have coherence with each other. While governance makes decisions, it only makes them if everyone agrees. This shows that we can work together.«.
He also highlighted the level of infrastructure on the trails. «There are bridges, sometimes if you go through complicated places like cliffs, they are secured and marked. And one can find information before going to the place. When they encounter the problem of a lot of public visits in a place, they carry out communication campaigns so that people do not continue going or they put restrictions on the camps,” he said.
He assured that generally, these measures work and «they are better than nothing«. «In our region, an entity should be created that unifies all the actors in the territory to facilitate decision-making. And on the other hand, reinforce communication to raise people’s awareness about where you cannot make a fire or where you can camp. Here people respect him a lot. It is true that we are talking about another culture“, considered. He also stressed that controls should also be “stricter.”
Alejo’s project includes the readjustment of two trails in La Angostura and Traful. «The Perilago, in the Rincón Arm, passes through several towns that have camping. The idea is to open it to the public and make an itinerary along the lake. On the other hand, our sights are set on Cerro Negro in Traful. The idea is to improve it to make it more accessible to family audiences,” concluded the young man.
