Managing native forests in Northern Patagonia to enhance their social value. Experiences from the Manso Valley at three different spatio-temporal scales

GOWDA, J.H.

Temuco

Congreso; Primer Congreso Latinoamericano IUFRO de Ecología del Paisaje; 2016

IUFRO - IALE - UFRO

The growing concern for maintaining the flow of products and environmental services that native forests provide to humans has led to a National Law for protection and sustainable management of native forests year 2007. Since then, provincial governments, forest owners, environmental NGO and forest researchers, among other stakeholders, have been straggling to adapt and former forest practices to this new management paradigm. Because of the large environmental, and socio-economic variability of Argentina, this process needs to take into integrate local realities to the general frame of the law. In this presentation, I summarize some of the experiences of 9 years of work within the frame or the national legislation, to highlight some general ideas that may be useful for enhancing the social value of forests elsewhere.The Manso Valley has been the main source of forest products of the Andean forests of Rio Negro Province until recently, when plantation forests established in the 1970´s in the vicinity of the towns of Bariloche and El Bolson, in combination with a growing concern about the lack of management of native forests, led to an abrupt reduction in the extraction of native species, and their replacement with planted conifers. The two villages of the Valley, Villegas and El Foyel, that were established in association with the sawmilling activities, and where most inhabitants of the Valley have settled since then, have no alternative local industrial source of employment since the closure of both sawmills.Since the approval of the Provincial Law for management and conservation of native forests, a new frame for development of forest related activities, now in the context of their social and environmental value has been set. I will summarize how this legislation may influence the social value of the native forests of the Valley with examples at three different scales: I. The ongoing process of classification of forests of the Valley and their implications for its future socio-economic development. II. The social, environmental and economic potential for production of wood fuels as a management tool for shrublands of he valley. III The integration of tourism, forest and agriculture as a mean of adding value to current farms of the Valley. I will use these examples to highlight the main political, technical and socio-economic constrains to the sustainable development of the Manso Valley.