Paper short abstract:

At the beginning of the 20th century, Argentina had about 30% of its surface covered by forests, with about 1,600,000 km². In less than a century the country lost more than two thirds of its native forests. The aim of this paper is to explain this process of socio-environmental destruction.

Paper long abstract:

At the end of the 19th century, Argentina had 160 million hectares of native forests. In less than two centuries the country lost more than two thirds of its native forest heritage. Today there are less than 33 million hectares of forests left. The exploitation of this forest wealth is the starting point of this analysis, which aims to draw an interpretative picture -from a historical-environmental perspective- of the evolution of forest exploitation in the period 1880-1950. Our main objective is, then, the historical-environmental study of this process of exploitation of Argentine forest resources in the context of their incorporation to the market and the relationship established between this process of deforestation and the expansion of the agricultural frontier, its transformation and conflicts. The area where the greatest forest exploitation is taking place is centered in the Gran Chaco, the region with the greatest wealth of biodiversity in the country. It occupies 80 million hectares (800,000 km2), 30% of the country's surface, and is its largest forest region. Although Argentina was economically structured on the basis of agricultural production in the Humid Pampa, forestry has always been an important complement to the development generated by agricultural and livestock activities. The demand for wood for construction and as fuel grew significantly in addition to the specific industrial demand for the region's emblematic tree, the quebracho colorado. This situation led to a brutal extractivist activity, which implied the almost total destruction of the native quebracho forest.