Examining the “Forest Law” in Los Lagos, Argentina, Through the Lens of Mapuche Organisations

ABSTRACT

In 2007 Argentina passed the ‘Federal Law 26331 on Minimum Standards for the Environmental Protection of Native Forests’, often referred to as the Forest Law, aimed at curbing and regulating the expansion of the agricultural frontier causing deforestation and the loss of native forests, and amid increasing social conflict. The law mandated provinces to develop and-use planning and zoning of their native forests through a participatory process, and to classify different uses of forestlands. In the province of Neuquén, the application of this regulation –along with its equivalent provincial norm, Law 2780-triggered much debate among environmental and social organizations, unions, small-scale rural producers, and Mapuche indigenous organizations, leading to an increase in conflict and disagreements between the different sectors involved. The application of the Forest Law in the region of Los Lagos and Lacar departments, which are forest areas with high landscape attractiveness and increasing tourism and real estate activity, generated considerable controversy, mobilizations, and debate in the local arena. Research for this paper involved methodological triangulation through ethnography and legal hermeneutics.

KEYWORDS:

• Forest Law
• Mapuche indigenous people
• indigenous movements
• Neuquén province

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In the neighboring country of Chile, a million Mapuche live in the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Region, as well as in the Metropolitan region (as a result of migration). In Argentina, over 200,000 Mapuche, according to the latest census from 2010, live in the provinces of Chubut, Río Negro, Neuquén, La Pampa and Buenos Aires (see Figure N° 1). It is the country’s most numerous indigenous group (followed by the Qom, Guarani, Diaguita and Kolla people).

2 Much of the academic publications (with which we agree) understands the expansive process of the national state and its policy toward indigenous peoples as genocide -especially, although not only- during the years of the military conquest, at the end of the nineteenth century. From then on, the dramatic shift in production relations left Mapuche dwellers in a precarious land-tenure situation that has hardly changed until today, despite the increasing number of communities -Lof (a collective subject based on family and territorial relationships)- and organizations based on claiming a specific ethnic identity and demanding the compliance with specific rights recognized by legislation.

3 Patagonia is located in the extreme South of South America, comprising the southern territories of Chile and Argentina. In Argentina, the region covers a portion of the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa and Mendoza, and the total areas of the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica, and South Atlantic Islands. This article focuses on north Patagonian districts, particularly in the province of Neuquén. Argentine North-Patagonia comprises two sub-regions with distinct geomorphological, climate, hydrological and vegetation characteristics. On the one hand, the Andean sub-region corresponds to the Andes mountain range and includes the Andean-Patagonian forest. On the other hand, the extra-Andean sub-region (located east of the former) presents lower mountains, broad plateaus and comprises the vast Patagonian steppe.

4 Between 1991 and 2011 Argentina followed a monetary system dubbed ‘convertibility’, based on pegging the Argentine peso to the US dollar at a one-to-one parity. In 2002, within the context of a severe socio-economic crisis, the measure was annulled –with the subsequent devaluation of the peso- with the aim of stimulating local production in the context of the lower local value of various goods and services in relation to the dollar.

5 During the ‘90s, with the infrastructure improvements and the consolidation of the region as a tourism and services center, the population of Villa la Angostura rapidly increased. The town strengthened its position as an elite-attracting destination, and its population increased from just over 3000 residents in 1991, to more than 7000 in 2001 and over 11,000 in 2010 (see following paragraphs).

6 As an example of this outstanding expansion, with only 2.08 percent of the province’s population (based on data from 2017), between 2013 and 2017 Villa la Angostura concentrated 18.5 percent of the province’s total permits for new construction (Provincial Bureau of Statistics and Census, Neuquén Province, 2018). These numbers place Villa la Angostura third in this ranking (only surpassed by Neuquén capital city and Plottier, with population reaching tens of thousands), and it is the first tourist city in the province, highlighting the significance of real estate growth.

7 This law considers native forests as natural forest ecosystems made up predominantly of mature native arboreal species, with diverse associated flora and fauna species, along with their surrounding environment (Art. No. 2). The tangible and intangible benefits generated by native forests ecosystems are considered environmental services: hydrological regulation; biodiversity, soil and water quality conservation; fixation of greenhouse gases; contribution to landscape diversification and beauty; defense of cultural identity (Art. No. 5).

8 A living modified organism is any live organism with a new combination of genetic material obtained through the application of modern biotechnology (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2000. Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity: text and annexes. Montreal, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.)

9 No-till farming is part of a comprehensive system for the production of grain that evolved toward seeding without the need of turning over soil, leaving crop residue on the soil surface (Pognante et al. 2011).

10 It is important to mention that the provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro are among the ones with the smallest declared areas of native forests.

11 Adjustments are small-scale corrections that can be made in the OTBNs when there is a higher level of certainty in information or a better resolution scale.

12 The available background information, based on different documents, shows that José María Paichil (1848-1915) belonged to the tribe led by chieftain Namuncurá and by Platero, one of its captains. Military forces in the late 19^thcentury advanced on indigenous territories, forcing them to flee and disintegrate the different chiefdoms. Their former members took refuge in different areas (mostly in the mountain area) to protect themselves from the military outpost. This explains why these settlers moved from East to West, considering that the area ruled by Namuncurá was settled in the Province of La Pampa. Between1882 and the late 1880s, Paichil would take refuge in the mountain range, where records show his presence in Lake Correntoso in 1888 (Collinao et al. 2019).

13 The ancestral presence of the Quintriqueo community (Lof ‘Kinxikew’) dates back several centuries, long before the so-called ‘Conquest of the Desert’. The book ‘Antiquities in the Nahuel Huapi and Traful Lakes Region’, by Milcíades Vignati (one of the first ethnographers of the Patagonian indigenous peoples)and based on his studies published in the 1930s is extremely relevant for determining this presence. The work includes a sketchlocating the ruins of the ‘Nahuel Huapi Mission’ (founded by Father Mascardi in1671), but that clearly shows the presence of Mapuche housing, and even the names of Mapuche Lonkos like Saihueque, Ñancucheo and Quenquemtreu (Quintriqueo). This information is highly relevant, as it provides documentary support to prove the ancestral presence of these families prior to 1872, fully matching the current oral narratives of these family members and other sources of information.

14 It should be noted that the tree species in this area include the following: Coihue (Nothofagus dombeyi), Ciprés de la Cordillera (Austrocedrus. Chilensis), Arrayán (Luma apiculata), Arrayán macho (Rhaphithamnus spinosus), Laura (Schinus patagonicus), Maqui (Aritotelia chilensis) and Maitén (Maytenus boaria). The shrub and herbaceous species are the following: Sauco del diablo (Raukaua laetevirens), Pañil (Budleja globosa), Chilco (Fuchsia magallánica), Taique (Desfontainea spinosa), Michay (Berberis microphylla), Parrilla (Ribes magellanica), Parrillita (R. cucullantum), Pimpinela (Acaena, pinatifida), and Abrojo (A. ovalifolia), among others (Institute of Anthropological Sciences 2018).

15 See the UBA report (ICA-Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas 2018) and the impact on the local media: https://www.diarioandino.com.ar/noticias/2018/05/19/209791-correntoso-informe-de-la-uba-confirma-impacto-ambiental-y-violacion-de-la-ley-de-bosques

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sebastián Valverde

Sebastián Valverde PHD in Anthropologist, Researcher and Regular Professor.

Clara María Minaverry

Clara María Minaverry PHD in Law, Researcher and Regular Professor.

Gabriel Stecher

Gabriel Stecher PHD in Social and Rural Studies, Regular Professor.