Argentina’s wetlands and forest corridors boast high biodiversity and endemism, and play several important environmental roles, including as carbon sinks. The ecosystems within the country’s Jujuy and Córdoba provinces are highly vulnerable to climate change and face growing threats from deforestation and other human economic activities. While conservation efforts have been strong, a clearer understanding of the value of the benefits these ecosystems provide to people at the national and global scale will be necessary to facilitate the design of innovative financial solutions for their protection and restoration.
In partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank, CSF will conduct economic valuations of the key ecosystem services provided by these regions to facilitate funding for their conservation. CSF will also assess the impact of economic activities such as agriculture and tourism on the loss of biodiversity, and identify the best financial mechanisms for effective management of these ecosystems.
Jujuy Province, bordering Chile and Bolivia in Argentina’s northwest, is home to Ramsar wetlands and Andean mountain ecosystems full of incredible mammal and avian biodiversity, many of which provide important cultural and religious value to local people. Farther south, Córdoba’s biodiversity has been impacted greatly by human factors such as urbanization and cattle ranching. Though the Pago por Servicios Ambientales (PSA) funding program exists to provide for conservation needs in the province, its budget is insufficient to conduct the needed biodiversity surveys of Córdoba’s rich forest ecosystems and provide the necessary conservation frameworks for lasting protections.
Collecting and evaluating empirical evidence of flora and fauna and ecosystem services in the two regions is much needed to strengthen existing conservation structures and provide the financial incentives necessary to conserve the regions’ abundant biodiversity.
CSF’s goal is to support decision-making for forest and wetland conservation in the two provinces by providing baseline indicators and valuations of habitat provision and climate regulation services and proposing clear, concrete plans and pathways for conservation funding and governance. Our analysis will provide key insights into the economic and biodiversity value of forest corridors and wetlands.
This project also aims to analyse national and provincial regulatory frameworks and propose concrete adjustments to both strengthen the protection of these forests and encourage private investment in conservation activities.
The project will prioritize the following:
- completing an economic valuation of two ecosystem services (habitat provision and climate regulation);
- assessing the impact of economic activities such as agriculture and tourism on the loss of biodiversity;
- quantifying annual carbon storage potential for the regions;
- identifying the most effective financial instruments for conservation in the two provinces; and
- proposing a clear governance structure for a conservation fund in Jujuy and Cordóba to develop resources for conserving the areas’ ecosystem services.
This project is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and implemented in partnership with Fundación Bariloche and Asociación Sustentar.