Assessing deforestation in the Argentine Chaco

The Argentine Chaco, a semi-arid region with a xerophytic deciduous forest, has been affected by extensive deforestation. A representative area (the Moreno Department in the province of Santiago del Estero covering more than a million hectares) was surveyed using LANDSAT MSS and TM satellite imagery from 1975 to 1999. In the 7 years from 1992 to 1999, more than 273,000 ha were found to have been deforested at an annual rate of 5%. A physiographic analysis of change identified the reduction of the area of native trees and the increase of agricultural land, the degraded areas of abandoned agricultural land and the unproductive shrub land. This study shows that there is an urgent need for rational management of the remaining forest for it to be able to survive beyond the next decades. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.