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The climate vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples is closely related to their marginalization from decision-making processes. Although the engagement of Indigenous Peoples in climate policy is increasingly promoted at the international level, there are still multiple barriers to their meaningful participation at the national level. Through an ethnography of the State, this article analyses how both the State's political orientation, and its interpretations of different stakeholders, influence the participation of Mapuche-Pehuenche communities in two mitigation projects implemented in Lonquimay, Chile, in the southern Andes. This study is based on a review of State policies for Indigenous Peoples, participant observations of the mitigation projects' implementation, and qualitative data collected through 26 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. The study uses an ethnographic approach to allow an understanding of how the State is constructed in the face of climate change and of Indigenous Peoples' vulnerability. The State project, which shapes the relationship of the Mapuche with their territory, with the State, and among themselves, is reflected in policy implementation patterns and the existing economic development model. All these relationships influence how officials and the Mapuche interpret and implement climate policy. This article demonstrates that by neglecting these relationships, climate policy risks being less effective in part as it reinforces the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples. While Indigenous Peoples' participation poses significant intercultural challenges, it also yields valuable lessons that can promote processes of institutional transformation that contribute to climate mitigation, such as strengthening local capacities and questioning beliefs that have led to climate change. Key policy insights: Indigenous Peoples' recognition and early participation in climate policy have a transformative potential. Counterproductive patterns of policy implementation in Indigenous Peoples' territories constrain climate policy coherence. To promote the meaningful engagement of Indigenous Peoples in climate policy, states must address long-standing conflicts and underlying factors that produce contextual vulnerability to climate change, while strengthening the intercultural competencies that allow a respectful approach to Indigenous knowledge systems and protocols. Officials must be open to transforming their own knowledge, practices, and values to put climate policy at the service of Indigenous communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stone pine (Pinus pinea), a drought-resistant species, has significant socio-economic benefits and increasing interest for the establishment of productive plantations in several countries, especially in a climate change context. Monitoring hourly stem diameter variations contributes to the understanding of the tree-growth response to changes in environmental conditions and management. By monitoring the diameter expansion of tree stems, high-resolution band dendrometers were used to study the development of adult trees growing in a semi-arid coastal environment of central Chile under fertilized and non-fertilized soil conditions through the span of a year. Results: Short cycles (< 21 h) were few in fertilized and non-fertilized trees (6 and 4, respectively), whereas long cycles (> 28 h) occurred at a higher frequency in fertilized trees (16 vs 6). Most of the circadian cycles were regular (24 ± 3 h). The longest cycle duration (59 h) was observed in fertilized trees during spring. In all seasons, each phase of the circadian cycle, especially during the stem diameter increment phase (P3, irreversible growth), started earlier in fertilized than in control trees. P3 duration was significantly longer in fertilized than in control trees in springtime. The maximum shrinkage (P1) was observed in summer for both treatments. Stem diameter increased faster in fertilized than in control trees throughout the year, with the highest accumulation occurring in spring and the lowest in autumn. The daily variability pattern showed lower growth under high temperature across seasons. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of fertilization in enhancing stone pine diameter growth. This cultural practice should be further explored to contribute to the mitigation of climate change effects in semi-arid environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chilean Climate Change Law excludes tree monocultures as a solution to the climate crisis, offering an opportunity for resilience and climate mitigation in Latin America. The Chilean experience with mega-fires in extensive, homogeneous forest plantations provides important lessons that could inform climate policies in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform an ex-ante life cycle assessment, integrating cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas emissions into an off-grid energy system model. By applying a multi-objective optimization, minimizing both costs and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) emissions, we find the Pareto boundary between these two goals. As a case study, we chose the power supply to an astronomical observatory in Chile, using mostly solar power and energy storage in batteries and hydrogen. We compare the ex-ante study to a prior ex-post life cycle assessment, and furthermore dive into sensitivities of our model regarding component lifetimes and costs. We find (i) low-hanging fruit in lowering emissions with small cost increases, (ii) ex-ante life cycle assessments' possibility to find less CO 2 e intensive power systems compared to ex-post conducted studies, (iii) a pronounced sensitivity of the optimization model on assumed lifetimes of energy storage components. This study shows the importance of including life cycle CO 2 e emissions into the optimization objective of energy system models. This method uncovers the environmental and economic trade-offs associated with high shares of renewable energies in off-grid energy systems. • We integrate life cycle assessment (LCA) into an off-grid energy system optimization. • The applied case study powers a remote astronomical telescope in Chile. • A multi-objective optimization finds Pareto curves at varying costs and lifetimes. • Low-hanging fruit shows low additional system costs to reduce CO 2 e impacts. • In contrast, a separate LCA did not find such trade-offs in costs and CO 2 e emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]