Resilient farms network under sustainable forest management

Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay created an integrated network of sustainable productive experiences based on the multiple use of the forest in the Chaco region, encompassing its socio-environmental diversity.

Context of the story

The Gran Chaco Americano occupies 1,100,000 km2 in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay and currently represents a global hotspot of deforestation for agriculture and livestock. Intensive livestock production systems are transforming the diverse and multi-stratified forest into unsustainable “savannah” systems (known as traditional silvopastoral systems) representing a deferred deforestation process. This process of land use change has caused a loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, endangering the resilience of production systems in the face of climate change. Adaptive management for the multiple forest uses by integrating livestock, is positioned as a productive alternative considering the conservation of the socio-ecosystems of the Chaco forests.

A network of experiences and knowledge that contributes to increasing resilience in Chaco farms.

The Implemented Initiative

INTA (Argentina), IPTA (Paraguay), and NATIVA (Bolivia) are working together to promote adaptive management of the Chaco forest, aiming to produce within a framework of sustainability. To achieve this, they assess the effect of different forest management practices, drawing on a network of experiences monitored under a shared methodology. The work is organized around:

- Analysis and monitoring of a network of sustainable forest management experiences.

- Training of local actors, with an emphasis on smallholder farmers.

- Dissemination of the results and knowledge generated.

A network that allows us to grow together under sustainable forest management

The technological solution

The network connects productive systems, professionals, and public agencies in a shared information flow, strengthening continuous improvement processes in adaptive and sustainable management of the Chaco forest.

The monitoring system dynamically assesses productive processes, based on a hierarchical set of principles, criteria, and indicators. This makes it possible to address the sustainability in both objective and operational ways, beyond its conceptual complexity.

Monitoring relies on three tools:

- A common survey methodology.

- An app to record indicators in the field.

- A unified database that centralizes information.

These tools make it possible to track forest management plans, identify training needs among producers, professionals, and public officials, and analyze sustainability at the farm level.

"It's nice that other places are doing similar activities. It will be good to know how they are moving forward and resolving the issues that arise."

— Beatriz Martínez, Las Guapas group. Chancaní, Córdoba

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Type of project

Agronomic Practices

Basic

Technological

Results

The project includes 2,000 direct beneficiaries, comprised of small and medium-sized producers, indigenous communities in Argentina and Paraguay, and professionals. Improvements are expected on 80% of the network's farms by considering three dimensions: environmental, productive, and socioeconomic. In the first year, a database was built with information on forest management experiences with livestock and multiple forest use experiences, which included individual and group Creole producers, indigenous communities, and women's groups. In addition, a stakeholder mapping guide was designed and implemented in areas of Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, Santa Fe, Salta, and Irala Fernández. In the area of innovation, two monitoring tools have been developed: unmanned aerial vehicles for surveying forest communities and temporal image analysis for the dynamic assessment of forests and other plant communities.