Fjölrit RALA - 05.12.1999, Page 44

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Aridand semi-arid rangelands of Argentina
The rangeland territo-
ries of Argentina were
sparsely populated com-
pared to the pre-
Columbian situation of
other parts of South and
Central America (e.g.
Peru, Mexico) which
have been the preferen-
tial settlement of high
density populated civili-
zations. The few native
people occupying these
regions lived in a semi-
nomadic situation feed-
ing upon plants and ani-
mals in a kind of eco-
logical equilibrium with
the natural environment;
they had no horses until
the arrival of the Span-
iards. The situation has
not changed much to
date: 0.6 or 0.05—1.3
people per km2 in Pa-
tagonia or the Caldenal,
respectively (Soriano
1983, Morris and Ubici
1996). This places Argentina in a very different situation when compared with other
arid and semi-arid regions of the world where environmental deterioration is largely
associated with rapidly increasing human populations (see Narjisse 2000).
From the anthropogenic point of view, rangeland deterioration in Argentina was
initiated about one to one hundred and fifty years ago with the settlement of the colo-
nizing Europeans ranchers, frequently under very harsh conditions. This occurred after
a period of Argentina’s history known as the “conquest of the desert” with participa-
tion of the army, and when the native communities were clearly the loosers. This se-
quence has some similarity to that occurring almost at the same time in the Great
Plains of North America. Although human population always remained very low, the
new settlers began a livestock production industry across the landscape based on
grazing of natural vegetation, with little knowledge or no consideration about envi-
ronmental impact or ecosystem management techniques. The wildland ecosystems
proved to be extremely fragile and were easily injured by abusive use; all rangelands
in Argentina are currently experiencing some form of deterioration or desertification.
Contributing factors to this situation have been deforestation, uncontrolled wood har-
vesting for fuels, livestock overstocking, and in some areas plowing of non-arable
lands.