Water Issues in Argentina

 

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Episode recorded September 22, 2022
Episode released on March 9, 2023


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Esteban Jobbagy

Esteban Jobbagy is a Senior Research Scientist at the Environmental Studies Group within the National University of San Luis, which is funded by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).    

Highlights | Transcript

  • Corrientes fires burning Dec. 2021 caused by drought linked to La Niña and sustained low flows in ParanáRiver, burned 60% of Iberá National Park and Ibera Wetlands. At least 70,000 heads of cattle died. Fires also affected by tree plantations.
  • Farmers in Argentina are not highly vulnerable to recent increases in energy/fertilizer costs because lack of irrigation, very low fertilization and prevalence of no-till farming use little of these resources. 
  • In contrast with many grain belts of the world, grain agriculture in Argentina is highly taxed, accounting for about 50% of gross revenue of farmers. 
  • Agriculture has expanded exponentially since 2000, replacing forests, grassland, and pasture. Gran Chaco lost 5 million ha of natural land in last 20 yr. At the same time exports of agricultural productions increased from $13 to $39 billion. 
  • Drivers of agricultural expansion include increasing global demand for grain for animal feed, advances in technology (roundup resistant soybeans), and capital access.
  • Mechanized deforestation impacts carbon, soil health, biodiversity, ecosystems and greenhouse gasses. 
  • Forest Laws enacted to reduce deforestation: traffic light system:
    • Red: protect forests
    • Yellow: retain forests but allow use
    • Green: can clear forest for agriculture
  • Incentives to reduce agricultural expansion, such as payment for environmental services, do not work because prices paid by Government are too low relative to the profitability of agriculture
  • Impacts of agricultural expansion on water resources:
    • Reduce water use with shallow rooted crops replacing deep rooted trees and grasses
    • Increase groundwater recharge resulting in shallow water tables
    • Increase flooding related to reduced water use (ET) and extremely flat topography
  • Rio Nuevo formed overnight near the town of Mercedes and expanded over last 20 yrs and is now 80 m wide, 25 m deep, and 30 km long, impacted transportation by cutting off some major E-W roads
  • Moving towards more sustainable management through adaptive agriculture:

In wet periods increase water use, double cropping, deep rooted secondary/service crops. In dry periods to single cropping and long fallows but include in the water budget contributions from shallow water tables if available. 

  • Dietary changes maybe in next generation moving towards more vegetarian diet; however, it is important to consider that affluent vegetarian diet can be more water intensive than non-affluent meat eating diet. 
  • Meat production in Argentina not as bad for environment because it is still partially grass fed rather than grain fed. Uruguay champions this trends, promoting grass fed beef exports.
  • While most emphasis globally on climate change and top down approach to dealing with it, bottom up approach towards sustainability may work better especially for water management, understanding linkages with land use. 
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Major ecological zones in Argentina
Figure 1. Major ecological zones in Argentina (colored zones) with shaded background highlighting relief (darker is flatter) (Poca et al., 2020).

Documentaries

Gran Chaco

Río Nuevo

Criaturas de Agua

References

Poca, M., M. D. Nosetto, S. Ballesteros, G. Castellanos, and E. G. Jobbagy (2020), Isotopic insights on continental water sources and transport in the mountains and plains of Southern South America, Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies, 56(5-6), 586-605.

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