Identificación de los principales actores y sus posiciones sobre asuntos internacionales de política forestal en Argentina

Desde la Cumbre de la Tierra, en 1992, el manejo y conservación de los bosques se han convertido en temas importantes en la política forestal internacional. Como resultado, distintas iniciativas internacionales abordaron el tema de manera directa o indirecta, conformándose un cuerpo normativo de leyes y acuerdos fragmentado sobre los bosques de alcance internacional. Los temas que conforman este régimen normativo se convierten en relevantes de distinta manera por medio de varios actores en diferentes países. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue identificar los principales temas de política forestal internacional relevantes en Argentina así como los principales actores involucrados y sus posiciones frente a los mismos como resultado de sus intereses. Para la identificación de estos temas se consultaron fuentes públicas (diarios nacionales, páginas web) así como expertas (entrevistas y publicaciones profesionales) entre el 2008 - 2012. Los actores más importantes fueron identificados y categorizados. Las posiciones de los distintos actores se obtuvieron mediante el análisis de las fuentes. Los temas de política forestal internacional identificados en la Argentina fueron: cambio climático y bosques, biodiversidad en sistemas forestales, iniciativas de políticas forestales regionales, competencia de sistemas de certificación forestal, desertificación,disputas bilaterales referentes a bosques y financiamiento de organismos internacionales en temas forestales. Los diferentes actores identificados presentaron posiciones encontradas con respecto a los temas, detectándose el cambio climático y bosques como el más conflictivo entre actores, principalmente entre ONG ambientalistas y asociaciones forestales y la Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustantable y el Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca.Since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, forest management and conservation have become important issues in international forest-related politics and policies. As a result, different international initiatives have dealt with the subject directly or indirectly, building up a fragmented international forest regime complex made of international laws and agreements about forests. The diverse elements of this regime complex are differently made relevant by various actors in different countries. The aim of this study was to identify the most relevant forest issue elements in Argentina as well as the main involved actors and their positions towards these elements as a result of their interests. To identify the issues, content analysis of documents was employed on public sources (newspapers, websites) as well as expert sources (personal interviews and professional journals) from 2008 - 2012. The most relevant actors were identified and categorized. The positions of the different actors were obtained analyzing the different sources. The forest issue elements found to be relevant in Argentina are: climate change and forests, forest biodiversity, regional forest-related policy initiatives, competing forest certification schemes, desertification, bilateral forest related disputes and forest-related support by international organizations. The various actors identified showed different positions regarding a diversity of issues, being climate change and forests the most conflictive concern among actors, especially among environmental NGOs and forestry associations and the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.Laboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientales (LISEA

Identificación de los principales actores y sus posiciones sobre asuntos internacionales de política forestal en Argentina

Desde la Cumbre de la Tierra, en 1992, el manejo y conservación de los bosques se han convertido en temas importantes en la política forestal internacional. Como resultado, distintas iniciativas internacionales abordaron el tema de manera directa o indirecta, conformándose un cuerpo normativo de leyes y acuerdos fragmentado sobre los bosques de alcance internacional. Los temas que conforman este régimen normativo se convierten en relevantes de distinta manera por medio de varios actores en diferentes países. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue identificar los principales temas de política forestal internacional relevantes en Argentina así como los principales actores involucrados y sus posiciones frente a los mismos como resultado de sus intereses. Para la identificación de estos temas se consultaron fuentes públicas (diarios nacionales, páginas web) así como expertas (entrevistas y publicaciones profesionales) entre el 2008 - 2012. Los actores más importantes fueron identificados y categorizados. Las posiciones de los distintos actores se obtuvieron mediante el análisis de las fuentes. Los temas de política forestal internacional identificados en la Argentina fueron: cambio climático y bosques, biodiversidad en sistemas forestales, iniciativas de políticas forestales regionales, competencia de sistemas de certificación forestal, desertificación,disputas bilaterales referentes a bosques y financiamiento de organismos internacionales en temas forestales. Los diferentes actores identificados presentaron posiciones encontradas con respecto a los temas, detectándose el cambio climático y bosques como el más conflictivo entre actores, principalmente entre ONG ambientalistas y asociaciones forestales y la Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustantable y el Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca.Since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, forest management and conservation have become important issues in international forest-related politics and policies. As a result, different international initiatives have dealt with the subject directly or indirectly, building up a fragmented international forest regime complex made of international laws and agreements about forests. The diverse elements of this regime complex are differently made relevant by various actors in different countries. The aim of this study was to identify the most relevant forest issue elements in Argentina as well as the main involved actors and their positions towards these elements as a result of their interests. To identify the issues, content analysis of documents was employed on public sources (newspapers, websites) as well as expert sources (personal interviews and professional journals) from 2008 - 2012. The most relevant actors were identified and categorized. The positions of the different actors were obtained analyzing the different sources. The forest issue elements found to be relevant in Argentina are: climate change and forests, forest biodiversity, regional forest-related policy initiatives, competing forest certification schemes, desertification, bilateral forest related disputes and forest-related support by international organizations. The various actors identified showed different positions regarding a diversity of issues, being climate change and forests the most conflictive concern among actors, especially among environmental NGOs and forestry associations and the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.Laboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientales (LISEA

Identificación de los principales actores y sus posiciones sobre asuntos internacionales de política forestal en Argentina

Desde la Cumbre de la Tierra, en 1992, el manejo y conservación de los bosques se han convertido en temas importantes en la política forestal internacional. Como resultado, distintas iniciativas internacionales abordaron el tema de manera directa o indirecta, conformándose un cuerpo normativo de leyes y acuerdos fragmentado sobre los bosques de alcance internacional. Los temas que conforman este régimen normativo se convierten en relevantes de distinta manera por medio de varios actores en diferentes países. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue identificar los principales temas de política forestal internacional relevantes en Argentina así como los principales actores involucrados y sus posiciones frente a los mismos como resultado de sus intereses. Para la identificación de estos temas se consultaron fuentes públicas (diarios nacionales, páginas web) así como expertas (entrevistas y publicaciones profesionales) entre el 2008 - 2012. Los actores más importantes fueron identificados y categorizados. Las posiciones de los distintos actores se obtuvieron mediante el análisis de las fuentes. Los temas de política forestal internacional identificados en la Argentina fueron: cambio climático y bosques, biodiversidad en sistemas forestales, iniciativas de políticas forestales regionales, competencia de sistemas de certificación forestal, desertificación,disputas bilaterales referentes a bosques y financiamiento de organismos internacionales en temas forestales. Los diferentes actores identificados presentaron posiciones encontradas con respecto a los temas, detectándose el cambio climático y bosques como el más conflictivo entre actores, principalmente entre ONG ambientalistas y asociaciones forestales y la Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustantable y el Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca.Since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, forest management and conservation have become important issues in international forest-related politics and policies. As a result, different international initiatives have dealt with the subject directly or indirectly, building up a fragmented international forest regime complex made of international laws and agreements about forests. The diverse elements of this regime complex are differently made relevant by various actors in different countries. The aim of this study was to identify the most relevant forest issue elements in Argentina as well as the main involved actors and their positions towards these elements as a result of their interests. To identify the issues, content analysis of documents was employed on public sources (newspapers, websites) as well as expert sources (personal interviews and professional journals) from 2008 - 2012. The most relevant actors were identified and categorized. The positions of the different actors were obtained analyzing the different sources. The forest issue elements found to be relevant in Argentina are: climate change and forests, forest biodiversity, regional forest-related policy initiatives, competing forest certification schemes, desertification, bilateral forest related disputes and forest-related support by international organizations. The various actors identified showed different positions regarding a diversity of issues, being climate change and forests the most conflictive concern among actors, especially among environmental NGOs and forestry associations and the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.Laboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientales (LISEA

Mapping the fragmentation of the international forest regime complex: institutional elements, conflicts and synergies

In the field of global environmental governance, a plethora of international regimes have emerged over the past decades. In some issue areas, multiple regimes aim to govern the issue, sometimes reinforcing, oftentimes conflicting with each other. Consequently, international regime complexes are an empirical phenomenon, which are inherently characterized by specific degrees of fragmentation. For any given issue area, one of the key questions is whether the institutional fragmentation encountered in such regime complexes is synergistic or conflictive in nature. Scrutinizing this question poses methodological challenges of how to delineate a regime complex and how to assess its fragmentation. Drawing on the highly fragmented case of the international forest regime complex, this paper aims to map its institutional fragmentation and to analyse the degrees to which it is conflictive or synergistic. For this we conceptualize the notion of institutional elements and develop a novel method for mapping regime complexes based on their core institutional elements. We then employ tools from the sub-discipline of policy analysis on the complex’s institutional elements for analysing in detail, which of the elements are mutually synergistic and conflictive with other elements of the regime complex. Our results indicate that synergistic relations mostly exist among rather vague elements, often built around sustainability as a core principle. On the contrary, conflictive relations prevail as soon as the elements are designed in more concrete and substantial ways. We conclude that the forest regime complex displays only degree of seemingly synergistic fragmentation through a number of non-decisions and the use of “sustainability” as an empty formula. De facto, conflictive fragmentation prevails among elements of concrete subject matter. This raises questions on whether vast parts of regime complexes merely serve symbolic functions, while conflicts on substance are being camouflaged.Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y ForestalesLaboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientale

Timber legality mechanisms against forest certification

Illegal logging and trade are one of the most important issues in world politics. As a result, many different international policies designed to tackle these issues have been developed. Although the role of state actors in certification mechanisms has been previously analyzed, it is still unknown how the main non-state players in certification act against the emergence of legality mechanisms. The case of Argentina presented in this paper shows how a coalition between international actors and land owners, gathered through forestry associations have managed to create a timber legality verification mechanism, even with financing from the national state.Laboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientale

From governance to government: The strengthened role of state bureaucracies in forest and agricultural certification

Private institutions for third-party (eco-)labelling of food and wood products has been a lively field of empirical research, peaking in the conception of certification as a “non-state market-driven governance system,” which is gaining rule-making authority domestically and internationally as a private governance institution and a transnational regime. Recent findings, however, suggest that state actors also play a decisive role in private certification governance. Questions relating to who within the state, however, so far remain unaddressed. Very recent empirical trends in the fields of timber and palm oil certification in Indonesia suggest that it is distinct public bureaucracies who start reclaiming certification authority through state-led mandatory schemes, challenging the private and transnational certification institutions in support of government-driven international certification regimes. Against this background, the objective of this paper is to substantiate the trend from transnational private to international state-driven governance by analyzing the role of distinct state bureaucracies in the emergence, diffusion, and reshaping of private natural resource governance systems. To achieve these objectives, we develop our propositions by combining insights from political certification studies, regime theory, as well as bureaucratic politics theory. Methodologically, we employ a qualitative case study design on recent developments in forest, timber, and palm oil certification systems in Argentina and Indonesia. Our results substantiate the observation that distinct state actors play a key role in private governance systems and, in the case of Indonesia, even re-claim labelling authority from private institutions by attempting to outcompete them through employing their exclusive regulatory power. The results further indicate a strong, self-interested support from domestic state bureaucracies to state-driven international rather than to transnational certification regimes, supporting the temporary governance hypothesis. We discuss and conclude on our results in light of literatures on private governance, policy sectors as well as international relations theory on the emergence of international and transnational regimes.Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y ForestalesLaboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientale

Ecuaciones del grosor y volumen de corteza a diferentes alturas utilizando variables de fácil medición

The objective of this work was to develop equations of thickness profile and bark volume at different heights with easy-measurement variables, taking as a study case Nothofagus pumilio forests, growing in different site qualities and growth phases in Southern Patagonia. Data was collected from 717 harvested trees. Three models were fitted using multiple, non-lineal regression and generalized linear model, by stepwise methodology, iteratively reweighted least squares method for maximum likelihood estimation and Marquardt algorithm. The dependent variables were diameter at 1.30 m height (DBH), relative height (RH) and growth phase (GP). The statistic evaluation was made through the adjusted determinant coefficient (r2-adj), standard error of the estimation (SEE), mean absolute error and residual analysis. All models presented good fitness with a significant correlation with the growth phase. A decrease in the thickness was observed when the relative height increase. Moreover, a bark coefficient was made to calculate volume with and without bark of individual trees, where significant differences according to site quality of the stands and DBH class of the trees were observed. It can be concluded that the prediction of bark thickness and bark coefficient is possible using DBH, height, site quality and growth phase, common and easymeasurement variables used in forest inventories.Ecuaciones del grosor y volumen de corteza a diferentes alturas utilizando variables de fácil medición El objetivo de este trabajo fue desarrollar ecuaciones de perfil del grosor y el volumen de corteza para diferentes alturas utilizando variables de fácil medición, tomando como caso de estudio los bosques de Nothofagus pumilio, creciendo en un gradiente de calidades de sitio y fases de crecimiento en Patagonia Sur. Se tomaron datos de 717 árboles. Se ajustaron tres modelos utilizando regresión múltiple, no lineal, y modelo lineal generalizado, mediante la metodología paso a paso, el algoritmo de Marquardt y de máxima verosimilitud. Las variables dependientes fueron el diámetro a 1,30 m de altura (DAP), altura relativa y la fase de crecimiento. Todos los modelos presentaron buen ajuste con una correlación significativa con la fase de crecimiento. Se observó una disminución en el espesor de corteza con el aumento de la altura relativa. Por otra parte, se desarrolló un coeficiente de corteza para calcular el volumen sin corteza de árboles, en donde se observaron diferencias significativas con la calidad de sitio y clases de DAP de los árboles. La predicción del espesor de la corteza y el coeficiente de la corteza es posible utilizando el DAP, altura, calidad de sitio y la fase de crecimiento, variables de fácil medición en inventarios forestales.Laboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientales (LISEA

Los efectos del conflicto ambiental por la instalación de plantas de celulosa sobre el Río Uruguay en el desarrollo del sector foresto-industrial de la Mesopotamia argentina

La expansión de las plantaciones forestales en la región sur de América Latina tuvo un auge a partir de principios de la década de los 90, cuando actores internacionales como el Banco Mundial y la FAO impulsaron a estos países a formular políticas forestales que tuvieron como objetivo la creación de un polo celulósico en la región. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar, mediante la metodología de process tracing el conflicto ambiental que surge por la instalación de dos pasteras sobre el Río Uruguay e identificar los actores involucrados, principalmente al Banco Mundial (actor internacional) y a las provincias de Entre Ríos, Corrientes y Misiones (actores nacionales), y caracterizar sus posturas, analizando sus acciones y su repercusión en el sector. Los resultados nos permitieron entender las decisiones que tomaron los gobiernos provinciales mediante el entendimiento de las características federales del funcionamiento del país, así como también las influencias que ejercen sobre el sector los organismos internacionales como el Banco Mundial. La compleja trama de intereses que intervinieron durante el conflicto puso en relieve la falta de capacidad de la Argentina, en su conjunto, para poder manejar problemas de este tipo, derivando en el desacuerdo entre las partes involucradas.Laboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientale

From governance to government: The strengthened role of state bureaucracies in forest and agricultural certification

Private institutions for third-party (eco-)labelling of food and wood products has been a lively field of empirical research, peaking in the conception of certification as a “non-state market-driven governance system,” which is gaining rule-making authority domestically and internationally as a private governance institution and a transnational regime. Recent findings, however, suggest that state actors also play a decisive role in private certification governance. Questions relating to who within the state, however, so far remain unaddressed. Very recent empirical trends in the fields of timber and palm oil certification in Indonesia suggest that it is distinct public bureaucracies who start reclaiming certification authority through state-led mandatory schemes, challenging the private and transnational certification institutions in support of government-driven international certification regimes. Against this background, the objective of this paper is to substantiate the trend from transnational private to international state-driven governance by analyzing the role of distinct state bureaucracies in the emergence, diffusion, and reshaping of private natural resource governance systems. To achieve these objectives, we develop our propositions by combining insights from political certification studies, regime theory, as well as bureaucratic politics theory. Methodologically, we employ a qualitative case study design on recent developments in forest, timber, and palm oil certification systems in Argentina and Indonesia. Our results substantiate the observation that distinct state actors play a key role in private governance systems and, in the case of Indonesia, even re-claim labelling authority from private institutions by attempting to outcompete them through employing their exclusive regulatory power. The results further indicate a strong, self-interested support from domestic state bureaucracies to state-driven international rather than to transnational certification regimes, supporting the temporary governance hypothesis. We discuss and conclude on our results in light of literatures on private governance, policy sectors as well as international relations theory on the emergence of international and transnational regimes.Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y ForestalesLaboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientale

Plan de manejo del Campo de Deportes del Centro Basko Euzko Etxea

El presente informe es el resultado del Acuerdo firmado entre la Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata y el Centro Basko Euzko Etxea quienes acordaron la realización de una planificación del manejo forestal del predio bajo su administración. La idea general fue desarrollar un diagnóstico y planificación para la conformación de un área cuyo destino es el establecimiento de un campo de deportes denominado Campo de Deportes del Centro Basko (CDCB).Laboratorio de Investigación de Sistemas Ecológicos y Ambientale