Los conflictos ambientales en el Chaco argentino, fábricas de territorialidades

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, the Argentinean Chaco has been subject to the advance of an agricultural frontier that has turned it into a deforestation hotspot on a global scale. Environmental conflicts arise on a daily basis, as the advance of this frontier pits communities against companies, landowners and local authorities. The aim of this article is to capture the conflicts that characterize the advance of the agricultural frontier by observing its “productivity”, particularly in its social and territorial dimensions. The hypothesis is that conflicts can be understood as territorial “fabrics”, which can be studied in order to reveal the functioning of a society in ongoing transformation. Based on the case of the Wichís in the province of Salta, the demonstration is founded on the analysis of public policies, the long-term monitoring of conflicts, and interviews with all the actors involved.

Keywords

• environmental conflicts
• Argentine
• productivity
• agricultural frontier
• Chaco