Challenges for the conservation of a protected area in a complex regional context: the case of Vaquerías Natural Reserve in the Córdoba hills, Argentina

BARRI F

Villa de Leyva

Congreso; Conference of Capacity Building for Conservation; 2013

Argentina is one of the countries that have undergone the greatest native forest declines in the last decades due to the advance of the agricultural and urban frontiers, threatening the Chaco ecosystem. Vaquerías Natural Reserve is located in the sierras of Córdoba province and belongs to the National University of Córdoba. Despite its proximity to several continuously expanding towns in the region, the area still preserves important relicts of mature forests and associated diversity. However, management of the Reserve faces a number of challenges, such as road construction, stakeholder pressures on and interests in the resources provided by that the reserve, the lack of government support for control and management, and the advance of exotic species, among others. Hence, two years ago we joined together with several organizations and local stakeholders and started to address actions to meet conservation objectives in a participative approach. The manners to achieve this reserve-community alliance are diverse, ranging from social communication, workshops and training in sustainable use of resources, to the inclusion of local people in research-supporting tasks and attention of visitors.