Important Bird Areas in Argentina.

COCONIER, EUGENIO; DI GIACOMO, ADRIÁN S.

Important Bird Areas of the Americas.

Birdlife International

Lugar: Quito; Año: 2009; p. 59 - 70

The Republic of Argentina1, located in the Southern Cone of South America, has a continental area of 2.8 million km2. It is the second largest country in South America after Brazil, and the eighth largest in the world. It is bounded by Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, by Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and by Chile to the west and south. Argentina is a democratic republic with a federal system of 23 provinces and an autonomous city (Buenos Aires). Provinces are subdivided into departments or partidos, which in turn, are divided into municipalities. The last national census in 2001 returned 36,260,130 inhabitants whereas an estimate for 2007 projected a total population of 40,927,301. Argentina is a melting pot of different cultures, both native as well as immigrant. The majority of the population are descended from Europeans, with some etimates putting the figure at 97% of the total population. Argentina is the only nation in South America with a positive immigration rate. There are also 24 indigenous groups living in Argentina, making up less than 1% of the population. These communities are distributed throughout all ecoregions, but in small groups and concentrated in indigenous reserves. Population density in Argentina is low, currently at 14 inhabitants/km2. The majority of the population live in the large provincial capitals in the center of the country, such as Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santa Fe, reaching a population density of 14,000 people/km2 in the city of Buenos Aires. Conversely, the province of Santa Cruz has less than 1 person/km2. Despite its low population density and huge continental area, Argentina is facing a worrying situation with regard to loss and lack of protection of natural environments, and consequent biodiversity extinction. The current rate of deforestation stands at 25,000 ha/year, resulting from the increased amount of land converted to agricultural use. The situation is also favored by the current political and economic climate, both at global and national level. Seventy percent of the current deforested area corresponds to the Chaco Seco region, in a phenomenon known in Argentina as pampeanización, or the conversion of Chaco to a pampas-type land cover. For example, the area sown with transgenic soya grew from as little as 3% in the 1970s to 40% of the total crop area in 2003, covering 14 million ha. With regard to other types of land use, the area given over to cattle ranching has decreased, but exotic tree plantations have doubled. Given its size and orientation along the length of the continent, Argentina has a considerable range of climates and latitudes, resulting in a diverse geography. To the east, the Atlantic coast runs 4725 km through temperate and cold climates. To the west, the 5500 km-long chain of the Andes covers a wealth of different ecosystems, including humid and temperate forests, deserts, glaciers, grasslands and steppes. The Gran Chaco, the second largest forest system in South America after the Amazon, is located in the north and center of the country. The largest and most continuous remnant of Interior Atlantic Forest is found in the northeastern extreme of the country in Misiones province. This ecosystem has almost disappeared from the neighboring countries of Paraguay and Brazil. In the south, the scrub steppes of Patagonia cover 450,000 km2 of practically uninhabited land, a similar situation to the Puna region and other Andean enclaves. The Pampas region is another important biome, a formerly extensive grassland covering 500,000 km2. However, conversion of natural grasslands to crops and other types of agriculture has been ongoing since colonization started at the beginning of the last century.