Guanaco Sustainable Management as a Conservation and Rural Development Strategy

CARMANCHAHI PABLO; GABRIELA LICHTENSTEIN; GREGORIO PABLO; PANEBIANCO ANTONELLA; MAROZZI ANTONELA; LEGGIERI LEONARDO RAMÓN; PEÑA FIAMA; OVEJERO AGUILAR RAMIRO

Guanacos and People in Patagonia

Springer Cham

Año: 2022; p. 108 - 121

Desertification is the most important social, economic, and ecological problem in Patagonia. Several factors have contributed to the ecosystem impoverishment: inadequate use of natural grasslands; lack of training and advisory services for producers; scarce transference of management technologies adapted for arid areas; low value of primary production; overgrazing; commercialization difficulties; limited productive alternatives due to the environmental rigorousness and increased droughts due to climate change. As a result, the ecological processes were altered, affecting the ecosystem’s productivity. The rancher’s need to increase their cattle stock in a degraded environment led them to strong persecution of wildlife species, competitors, or predators of livestock. In this sense, the guanaco (Lama guanicoe) suffered a strong reduction in its abundance and distribution range, population fragmentation, and loss of genetic diversity. The use of this wild camelid, regarded as a low environmental impact grazer, could play a fundamental role to reduce desertification processes in Patagonian arid ecosystems, and it would provide an economic alternative to local producers.This chapter compiles the empirical evidence generated by the scientific sector that helped to establish the basis for the implementation of a management system focused on the conservation of the species and local socioeconomic development. It also analyses and compares economic contexts in different management situations and the challenges that this activity still presents in the commercialization of its products. Finally, it is discussed whether the actions carried out since the elaboration of the Guanaco National Management Plan have fulfilled the criteria of adaptive management.