Viticulture and desertification in Mendoza, Argentine

ABRAHAM, E. M. Y M. DEL R. PRIETO.

Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie

E. Schweizerbart Science Publishers

Lugar: Stuttgart; Año: 2000 p. 1063 - 1078

0340-5109

Abstract: The substitution in Mendoza province (Argentina) of a production model based on livestock raising for an agroindustrial model focused mostly an viticulture and wine making, generated, as of 1880, severe desertification processes on the eastem plain of the province. The major factor to set these processes in motion was an intense forest activity which brought about over-exploitation of algarrobo forests to meet the demands for wood of the newly-established crops, and to satisfy the growing need for fired woody, charcoal and timber for the increasing urban population in the oasis. This study deals with the traditional forest-exploitationlrailroad association, also connecting degradation of native vegetation with wine industry expansion. The extent of the forest in the 19thcentury is determined, degraded sites are identified, critical moments of over-exploitation are indicated. In particular, we quantified both the volume of timber and firewood extracted and the extent of the area affected by desertification processes. For such purposes, data on forest-product cargo transported by the railroad from wood-Ioading stations on the plain toward the agricultural oasis were used. Throughout the 35 years under study (1901 to 1935), 1,003,497 metric tons of forest products were cut down, directly affecting an area of 200,699.4 hectares of forest. These figures are far beyond the early hypothesis on the magnitude of the impact produced.algarrobo forests to meet the demands for wood of the newly-established crops, and to satisfy the growing need for fired woody, charcoal and timber for the increasing urban population in the oasis. This study deals with the traditional forest-exploitationlrailroad association, also connecting degradation of native vegetation with wine industry expansion. The extent of the forest in the 19thcentury is determined, degraded sites are identified, critical moments of over-exploitation are indicated. In particular, we quantified both the volume of timber and firewood extracted and the extent of the area affected by desertification processes. For such purposes, data on forest-product cargo transported by the railroad from wood-Ioading stations on the plain toward the agricultural oasis were used. Throughout the 35 years under study (1901 to 1935), 1,003,497 metric tons of forest products were cut down, directly affecting an area of 200,699.4 hectares of forest. These figures are far beyond the early hypothesis on the magnitude of the impact produced.