Deal Narrative 3: Securing land rights and access to commons - new hope for the Argentine Chaco’s pastoralists?

The Chaco region, which spans Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay, is the second largest forest in South America after the Amazon rainforest. It is also one of the fastest growing agricultural frontiers in South America and a global deforestation hotspot. Since the 1990s, the Argentine Chaco has experienced a massive expansion of soy production, while new political and economic conditions have contributed to the development of a vibrant land market. Along with the expansion of commercial agriculture, however, came increasingly limited access to common-pool resources for local communities.

The land tenure structure in this region has a long history of land concentration and displacement of indigenous peoples and local communities such as the “criollo” pastoralists. The latter have inhabited this land since the mid-nineteenth century and traditionally produced livestock in land holdings with undefined boundaries and a customary land tenure system.

This deal narrative demonstrates how, despite struggles for access to and control of commons in the Argentine Chaco dating back nearly half a century, marked by frequent clashes between state-owned companies, private actors, and pastoralists, a combination of more favourable policy conditions for pastoralists, a company environment that encourages engagement with local communities, and the involvement of representatives of government institutions could positively affect land governance and promote a shift towards more inclusive and sustainable development models in the future.

Authors: Carlos Ortega Insaurralde, Lucía Cuellar, Melisa Escosteguy and Lucas Seghezzo

WHAT ARE DEAL NARRATIVES?

Deal narratives are investigations of specific LSLAs by the Land Matrix regional and global partners that provide an in-depth and detailed analysis of single deals in addition to its global database. This deal narrative focuses on Land Matrix deals #1060 and #4130. By making this information available, the Land Matrix aims to support broad engagement and information exchange, facilitating the continuous improvement of the data. The information on the deals is based on both secondary research and in-depth field research in the region involving the relevant stakeholders.

Acknowledgements

We express gratitude to the pastoralists of Salta Forestal S.A. for taking the time to participate in the interviews and respond to the survey. We are also grateful to Christoph Kubitza and Danya-Zee Pedra from the Land Matrix Initiative for their comments and suggestions. We acknowledge funding from the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET).