What drives accelerated land cover change in the Gran Chaco of central Argentina? Synergistic consequences of climatic, socio-economic and technological factors

ZAK M, CABIDO M, CÁCERES D Y S. DÍAZ

Valdivia, Chile

Congreso; International Congress on Ecosystem Services in the Neotropics: State of the art and future challenges; 2006

Universidad Austral de Chile

Among the primary causes of land cover change are deforestation and agricultural expansion. In recent years, climate change has been recognized as a major driver of land change. In particular, synergistic combinations of climatic and land use changes have the potential to produce the most dramatic impacts on land cover. Although widely accepted empirical examples involving deforestation in Latin America are still very few. The extent and causes of deforestation in subtropical seasonally-dry forests of the world have received little attention. This is especially true for the Gran Chaco forests. On this basis, the aims of this study were to analyze the changes occurred during the second half of the 20th century in the Chaco of central Argentina, and to explain the factors of change. Results show strong changes, with a dramatic spread of croplands at the expense of forests. This meant a deforestation rate of about 2.8 % per year, similar to those reported for tropical sites. The main proximate cause of deforestation has been agricultural expansion and soybean cultivation in particular. This appears as the result of the synergistic convergence of climatic, technological and socio-economic factors. Changes in national and international markets and technological factors have played a strong role in determining the expansion of soybean, which seems not to have been possible without the effect of climate change in the area. This supports the hypothesis of multiplefactors explanation for forest loss, while provides one of the few existing analysis for changes in subtropical forests of the world.