225
To get a complete environmental picture, due to the drastic anthropogenic
changes, an increase of the water table level above 800 mm of precipitation is
expected. This is a consequence of the low water consumption of the massive monoculture of soybeans compared to the original forest and even to the traditional
“farms,” which rotated crops in combination with livestock. Many of the soils where
agricultural activity is located in the “Chaco dome” have a subsurface layer of salts
that rises along with the water table. This process, although slow, in the long term
has devastating effects when begins to appear on the surface (Jobbágy et al. 2008).
In summary, the Argentine semi-arid Chaco is in emergency from an environmental and productive point of view. It can be said that the current production model
is not viable in the medium term. This affirmation is based not only on the environmental and productive problems presented but also on the enormous social and
cultural cost that has accompanied this process initiated some three decades ago and
whose analysis exceeds the scope of this book. If the State does not perform landuse planning and if society as a whole does not adequately value the natural
resources of the Chaco, the future of its forests will be seriously compromised
(Naumann 2006).
8.3 The Role of Trees in the Primary Production
of the Chaco
Forest plantations and industry in Argentina concentrate in the so-called
Mesopotamia Region (provinces of Entre Ríos, Corrientes and Misiones), where
90% of the Argentine productive plantations are located. In turn, 95% of the existing
forest plantations throughout the country correspond to introduced species: pines,
eucalypts, willows, and poplars (Schlichter 2012; Marcó et al. 2016).
Although the Chaco is an eminently forest region, all the social actors linked to
primary productive activities (i.e., settlers, native communities, small livestock producers, agricultural corporations, real estate investors, and agricultural investment
funds) do not have a forest culture. In other words, they do not consider forest plantation or the sustainable management of native forest under silvicultural norms, as
an important regional productive alternative. The original communities, currently
confined to the least productive areas, mostly come from hunting and gathering
culture associated with the native forest, which today they observe on the way to
extinction. The former settlers and their descendants are farmers who carry out their
activity exclusively on cleared areas. The forestry activities of small livestock producers, and to some extent native communities, are restricted to the extraction of
wood for fence posts, firewood, and charcoal production (Fig. 8.6). They eventually
sell the standing timber to small entrepreneurs with little capitalization, who form
logging and transport crews. In this way, raw material is provided mainly to regional
sawmills (Fig. 8.6). This extractive activity is almost exclusively restricted to the
quebrachos, to algarrobos, and, to a much lesser extent, to other minor species (Kees
and Michela 2016).
8 Subtropical Dry Forests: The Main Forest Ecoregion of Argentina
To get a complete environmental picture, due to the drastic anthropogenic
changes, an increase of the water table level above 800 mm of precipitation is
expected. This is a consequence of the low water consumption of the massive monoculture of soybeans compared to the original forest and even to the traditional
“farms,” which rotated crops in combination with livestock. Many of the soils where
agricultural activity is located in the “Chaco dome” have a subsurface layer of salts
that rises along with the water table. This process, although slow, in the long term
has devastating effects when begins to appear on the surface (Jobbágy et al. 2008).
In summary, the Argentine semi-arid Chaco is in emergency from an environmental and productive point of view. It can be said that the current production model
is not viable in the medium term. This affirmation is based not only on the environmental and productive problems presented but also on the enormous social and
cultural cost that has accompanied this process initiated some three decades ago and
whose analysis exceeds the scope of this book. If the State does not perform landuse planning and if society as a whole does not adequately value the natural
resources of the Chaco, the future of its forests will be seriously compromised
(Naumann 2006).
8.3 The Role of Trees in the Primary Production
of the Chaco
Forest plantations and industry in Argentina concentrate in the so-called
Mesopotamia Region (provinces of Entre Ríos, Corrientes and Misiones), where
90% of the Argentine productive plantations are located. In turn, 95% of the existing
forest plantations throughout the country correspond to introduced species: pines,
eucalypts, willows, and poplars (Schlichter 2012; Marcó et al. 2016).
Although the Chaco is an eminently forest region, all the social actors linked to
primary productive activities (i.e., settlers, native communities, small livestock producers, agricultural corporations, real estate investors, and agricultural investment
funds) do not have a forest culture. In other words, they do not consider forest plantation or the sustainable management of native forest under silvicultural norms, as
an important regional productive alternative. The original communities, currently
confined to the least productive areas, mostly come from hunting and gathering
culture associated with the native forest, which today they observe on the way to
extinction. The former settlers and their descendants are farmers who carry out their
activity exclusively on cleared areas. The forestry activities of small livestock producers, and to some extent native communities, are restricted to the extraction of
wood for fence posts, firewood, and charcoal production (Fig. 8.6). They eventually
sell the standing timber to small entrepreneurs with little capitalization, who form
logging and transport crews. In this way, raw material is provided mainly to regional
sawmills (Fig. 8.6). This extractive activity is almost exclusively restricted to the
quebrachos, to algarrobos, and, to a much lesser extent, to other minor species (Kees
and Michela 2016).
8 Subtropical Dry Forests: The Main Forest Ecoregion of Argentina