The Gran Chaco Americano, Latin America’s second-largest forest region after the Amazon, now has a new alliance. In Resistencia, Chaco Province (Argentina), implementation began on the seed fund “FONTAGRO–PROADAPT Partnership: Building Resilience in the Gran Chaco Americano” (FTG/RF-15126-RG). It is led by Enrique Bedascarrasbure of INTA Argentina, together with INIAF Bolivia and IPTA Paraguay. The initiative totals USD 31,000, including USD 20,000 from FONTAGRO, and seeks to bring the public research institutes into the project “Building Climate Resilience in the Gran Chaco Americano”, implemented by Fundación AVINA with support from PROADAPT, the USD 11.9 million programme of the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Nordic Development Fund.

On 24 September, a preparatory workshop at INTA’s Chaco–Formosa Regional Centre identified what the institutes can contribute: weather networks, silvopastoral and silvo-apicultural systems, conservation of native genetic resources, simulation models for risk management, and solutions for water access. The following day, at the PROADAPT kick-off workshop hosted by the Chaco provincial government, authorities, civil society organizations, farmers and technicians from the three countries worked in groups on beekeeping, livestock, and adaptive planning and investment. Beekeeping emerged as the best starting point for cooperation.

🔗 Project page (in Spanish)
📄 Seed fund proposal (PDF, in Spanish)
📄 Report 2: workshop proceedings (PDF, in Spanish)