A battlefield for forests: an actor-oriented analysis for studying local institutions and the deployment of ecosystem services in central Argentina

RODRÍGUEZ BILELLA, PABLO

Bonn, Alemania

Conferencia; IHDP Open Meeting, 7th International Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change; 2009

International Human Dimension Programme in Global Change

This paper introduces an investigation carried out with rural communities in Córdoba (central Argentina), which historically had their livelihoods closely linked with forestry activities. Nowadays, the dry forests of the area are disappearing, both because of the extractive activities of the local population as well as for the expansion of the agriculture frontier. The national government has set a very restrictive legislation in order to protect dry forests, and this has led to a plurality of conflicts within different categories of actors. The interdisciplinary research made use of an actor-oriented approach in order to explore how different social actors define, in a framework of persisting inequities and poverty, the environmental problems at stake as well as the solutions for them. Attention was paid to the multiple and conflictive perceptions and social representations different social actors have of the ecosystem services offered by the dry forest. The investigation highlights the key role of a proper understanding of different kinds of information, values, and perspectives into decision–making. The significant role of local institutions in the management and use of the forest’s ecosystem services as commons has been changed by migration and excessive state intervention. Both collective action and secure property rights are needed to sustainably manage natural resource systems such as forests. The incorporation of an actor-oriented approach was a theoretical and practical alternative in order to strengthen the study of the relationship between ecosystem services, local institutions and poverty reduction at the community and regional levels.