Restoration approach
The Action Plan for designing the PNRBD has identified several actions that vary by prioritized area including:
- Ecological corridors for connectivity between protected areas
- Forests management with integrated livestock (Manejo de Bosque con Ganadería Integrada MBGI)
- Silvopastoral systems
- Restoration of riparian forests
- Natural regeneration
Resources
Objectives
Argentina joined Initiative 20x20 with an ambition to restore 1 million hectares through the leadership from the Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development.
Argentina possesses a landscape with potential for forests and forestry plantations. However, vast amounts of land are classified as degraded or underused. Also, according to CAIT, 42% of Argentina’s greenhouse gas emissions come from land use and land use change – especially conversion of forest to agricultural land. The potential to restore these lands through multiple restoration approaches has led Argentina to pledge to restore 1 million ha of degraded land by 2020 under Initiative 20x20.
The country’s key restoration goals are:
- Mitigation and adaptation to climate change
- Creation of economic opportunities by avoiding erosion and improving quality of agricultural land
- Reversal of forest cover loss through the enforcement of existing laws to protect forests and incentivizing reforestation activities.
Argentina’s Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development has developed an Action Plan for designing a National Program for Restoring Degraded Native Forests (PNRBND) that will be launched in the coming months. In a preliminary analysis of potential areas for restoration, the Action Plan identified six main areas comprising several provinces and covering seven regions: Espinal, Monte, Parque Chaqueño, Selva Misionera, Yungas and Andean-Patagonian Forest.
Financing mechanisms
Currently, Law 26.331 (Presupuestos Mínimos de Protección Ambiental de Bosques Nativos) allocates resources to provinces for the restoration and conservation of forests under the National Program for the Protection of Native Forests (Plan Nacional de Protección de Bosques Nativos - PNPBN) and the National Fund for Enrichment and Conservation of Native Forests (Fondo Nacional para el Enriquecimiento y Conservación de Bosques Nativos -FNECBN).
The GEF supports land restoration efforts in Argentina through projects that are implemented and supported by organizations such as FAO and UNDP.
