Sustainable management of the Gran Chaco of South America: Ecological promise and economic constraints

The vast plain known as the Gran Chaco is a natural region of more than 1.3 million square kilometres, the second largest natural biome in South America, with only the Amazon region being larger: It extends over parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and, marginally, Brazil. The original landscape of the region was mostly a park land with patches of hardwoods intermingled with grasslands. Increasing human encroachment, largely by poor campesinos, with associated overgrazing, excessive timber harvesting charcoal production and over-exploitation of wildlife, is transforming the region into a dense and unproductive shrub land and is contributing to increasing rural poverty. A management system for the sustainable use of the Chaco has been developed based on a multiple-species ranching system that includes beef, timber; charcoal and wildlife production. An evaluation of the management system finds that it is capable of protecting and enhancing the resource base, while providing higher economic returns in a sustainable manner: However; high initial costs, as well as a divergence between the 'best' interests of campesinos and society, jeopardize the feasibility of the managed system. (C) 1999 Academic Press.