Social perception of tree plantations in the Atlantic forest of Argentina: the role of management scale

CARIOLA SZUCHMAN, LUCÍA; NORMA INES HILGERT; ANDREA IZQUIERDO

Ethnobiology and Conservation

Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

Año: 2018

2238-4782

Land use changes associated with the advance of forest plantations on lands previously used for agriculture generate diverse perceptions of the socioenvironmental impact they entail. Despite, these perceptions are influenced by the landscape context produced by the land use changes. In last decades there has been a transformation in land use associated with the development of forestry activity in the northwest of the province of Misiones, Argentina.Considering local communities in order to improve assessment, governance and decisionmaking in sustainable management, we posed two questions: What are environmental, social and economic perceptions of tree plantations of local communities with different landuse context? What is the role of scale of production in these perceptions? To this purpose we first described the productive matrix of the landscape mapping the forest plantation cover of thearea and classifying the productive units in different Forest Management Model (large, medium and small scale).Then, we identified and selected participants from comparable rural communities in each FMM, who through a Q survey grouped phrases according their perceptions. Subsequently, emerging viewpoints were recognised. Our analysis shows that forestry activity is not poorly conceived in contrast to conceptualization of the management of larger scale productive systems in combination with government policies promoting them.The management carried out through large areas that result in a homogenization of the landscapeare perceived negatively. In general terms, the local imagination perceives that the promotion and establishment of forestry companies could be positive if it is supported on planning to protect preexisting familiar productive systems.