IMBIV   05474
INSTITUTO MULTIDISCIPLINARIO DE BIOLOGIA VEGETAL
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
What Drives Accelerated Land Cover Change in Central Argentina? Synergistic Consequences of Climatic, Socioeconomic,and Technological Factors
Autor/es:
ZAK, M; CABIDO, M; CÁCERES, D; DÍAZ S. M.
Revista:
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Referencias:
Año: 2008 p. 181 - 189
ISSN:
0364-152X
Resumen:
Abstract
Synergistic combinations of climatic and land
use changes have the potential to produce the most dramatic
impacts on land cover. Although this is widely accepted,
empirical examples, particularly involving deforestation in
Latin America, are still very few. The geographic extent and
causes of deforestation in subtropical seasonally dry forests
of the world have received very little attention. This is
especially true for the Chaco forests in South America,
which are being lost at an alarming rate, sometimes higher
than those reported for tropical forests. On this basis, the
aims of this study were to analyze the changes in land cover
that have occurred during the last three decades of the 20th
century in the Chaco forests of central Argentina, and to
explain the factors that have driven those changes. Results
show major land cover changes. Approximately 80% of the
area that was originally undisturbed forest is now occupied
by crops, pastures, and secondary scrub. The main proximate
cause of deforestation has been agricultural expansion,
soybean cultivation in particular. This appears as the result
of the synergistic convergence of climatic, technological,
and socioeconomic factors, supporting the hypothesis of a
multiple-factor explanation for forest loss, while providing
one of the very few existing analyses of changes in subtropical
forests of the world.