Guanaco sustainable management as a conservation and rural development strategy.

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

Guanacos and people in Patagonia: A Social-Ecological approach to a relationship of conflicts and opportunities

Springer Nature

Año: 2022; p. 147 - 190

Desertification is the most important social, economic, and ecological problem in Patagonia. Several factors have contributed to theecosystem 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; commercializationdifficulties; limited productive alternatives due to the environmental rigorousness and increased droughts due to climate change. Asa result, the ecological processes were altered, affecting the ecosystem’s productivity. The rancher’s need to increase their cattlestock in a degraded environment led them to strong persecution of wildlife species, competitors, or predators of livestock. In thissense, 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 fundamentalrole to reduce desertification processes in Patagonian arid ecosystems, and it would provide an economic alternative to localproducers.This chapter compiles the empirical evidence generated by the scientific sector that helped to establish the basis for theimplementation of a management system focused on the conservation of the species and local socioeconomic development. It alsoanalyses and compares economic contexts in different management situations and the challenges that this activity still presents inthe commercialization of its products. Finally, it is discussed whether the actions carried out since the elaboration of the GuanacoNational Management Plan have fulfilled the criteria of adaptive management.