How Changing Imaginaries of Nature and Tourism Have Shaped National Protected Area Creation in Argentine Patagonia

ANDERSON, CHRISTOPHER B; DICENTA, MARA; ARCHIBALD, JESSICA L.; VALENZUELA, ALEJANDRO E. J.

Tourism and Conservation-based Development in the Periphery. Natural and Social Sciences of Patagonia

Springer

Lugar: Chams; Año: 2023; p. 71 - 98

Even regions of the planet widely considered to be “remote” or “pristine” like Patagonia are actually dynamic social-ecological systems with interrelated local-international connections of discourses, practices, and institutions. Yet,their study and management often do not consider this complexity. In ArgentinePatagonia’s iconic landscapes, protected areas (PAs) represent a major humannature relationship, and PA creation has been motivated by objectives ranging fromgeopolitical interests to biodiversity conservation. In this chapter, we employed thesocial imaginary framework to conduct an historical analysis of local, national, andinternational infuences regarding the way nature and tourism are conceived andmanaged in national PAs. We evaluated the discourses (ideals, values, beliefs) andinstitutions (norms, rules, structures, stakeholders) involved in creating these PAs inArgentine Patagonia. The national PA system was legally formed in the 1930s, butinitial efforts reach back as far as the early 1900s. We found that while the globalization of Patagonian conservation-based development has consolidated since the1980s, local-international relationships extended over more than a century to coproduce these social-ecological systems.