Tropical deforestation releases massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, making it a major contributor to climate change. The main direct cause of deforestation in tropical is agricultural expansion. The project examines deforestation in the dry Chaco of the Argentine province of Salta.
The region is home to considerable ethnic and cultural diversity, including criollos (small-scale livestock farmers of European descent) and indigenous peoples.
The research project examines five main themes, as discussed below.
Theme 1: The governance structure behind the land use policies in the province of Salta.
Ten years after the introduction of a new forest law, the project examines the governance structures that were created to implement sustainable forest management.
Theme 2: Sustainable land management practices
The introduction of genetically modified soybean varieties in the 1990s and high international prices for commodities like maize, soya, rice, and wheat led to expansion of agriculture in the province of Salta. On one hand this resulted in vast deforestation, to the detriment of displaced indigenous communities. On the other hand, marginal land areas, formally owned by absentee landowners, suddenly gained in value. As a result, small-scale livestock farmers (criollos), who lived in these areas for many years without any formal title, have been increasingly displaced. Land conflicts have increased – as has land degradation.
Theme 3: Deforestation narratives from the indigenous people’s perspectives
Indigenous communities, whose identities are rooted in “traditional” uses of forest flora and fauna, are faced with finding other sources of livelihood. Lacking alternatives, they are often forced to sell their labour in activities involving deforestation. This places them in conflict with local environmental laws – and ultimately their own identity. These predicaments add to tensions within the community.
Theme 4: Actors perspectives on deforestation and Environmental Justice
Besides the three themes described above, the project has benefitted from the collaboration with an independently funded researcher, who has been looking at the problem of deforestation in the region of Salta from an Environmental Justice (EJ) perspective.
Theme 5: The impact of deforestation on indigenous peoples
The aboriginal people of the Chaco Saltenho are possibly those who are being mostly affected by deforestation in the region. The loss of natural forests and their conversion to agriculture, a process that has occurred in different phases over the past four centuries, implies the end of the world for indigenous peoples. The consequences include the impairment of cultural and social reproduction, expulsions and the impossibility of economic reproduction. The project aims at recompiling in a systematic way the available knowledge, based on extensive fieldwork carried out in the past by one of the researchers.
Theme 6: Comparative analysis of the implementation of the forest law in the Chaco ecoregion
The Chaco ecoregion in Argentina spans across twelve different provinces. Each of the provinces has implemented the national forest law in quite a different way. To this day a systematic analysis of the reasons behind such a heterogeneous implementation, whose consequences in terms of protection of the remaining forests are of paramount importance, does not exist.
