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ENVIRONMENT: South America’s Forgotten Grasslands

Pablo D'Atri * - IPS/IFEJ

SANTA ROSA, Argentina, Dec 6 2006 (IPS) - Grasslands provide humanity with “environmental services” worth billions of dollars a year. But only 0.7 percent of the world’s grasslands – and only 0.3 percent of those in South America – are protected.

A total of 39 million square km of grasslands cover nearly one-quarter of the earth’s continental land surface, making them one of the most extensive ecosystems in the world.

Among the best-known are the Great Plains of North America, the steppes of Eastern Europe and Mongolia, South Africa’s ‘veld’ or high plains, the grasslands of New Zealand, southern Brazil and Uruguay, and the pampas of Argentina.

Two of the world’s most important activities depend on grasslands: agriculture and the forest industry. In fact, a large part of the seeds, beef, dairy products, wool, leather and lumber consumed worldwide are produced on the grasslands.

According to a 1997 report coordinated by Robert Costanza, co-founder of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE), grasslands absorb some 60 kgs of carbon annually per hectare, reducing the accumulation of greenhouse gases – the prime culprits in global warming – in the atmosphere.

If an economic value was assigned to the “work” of grasslands in fighting climate change, it would be 1.20 dollars a year per hectare which, multiplied by the global extension of grasslands, adds up to a total of 4.68 billion dollars, according to the study, titled “The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital”.

The list of “ecosystem services” includes climate regulation, the protection and regeneration of soil fertility, pest and flood control, purification of water and air, and crop pollination. Costanza’s report suggests that nature could charge humanity some 900 billion dollars a year for these services alone.

In South America, the pampas of the Río de la Plata region cover 760,000 square km, in much of central Argentina, most of Uruguay and part of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Pampas and farmland form the basis of the economy of these three commodity-exporting nations.

Unlike forests or wetlands, grasslands, transformed into farmland or pastures, are seen by society as the place where food – grains and meat – is obtained, said Aníbal Parera, coordinator of an alliance for the conservation of the grasslands and pampas of South America’s Southern Cone region, a project financed by BirdLife International and its local partners in the region.

Human societies have historically used grasslands as pastureland or have transformed them and used them for other purposes like agriculture or forestry, says a report by Argentina’s Fundación Vida Silvestre (Wildlife Foundation) and the J.M. Kaplan Fund, a U.S. environmental grant funder.

In the study, more than 140 experts identified “the most valuable grasslands areas” in the pampas and countryside of Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil. They point out that in the last few decades, the area covered by grasslands has shrunk between one and 10 percent a year.

The pampas are a shrinking ecosystem, and virtually none of the original grasslands exist anymore, said Professor Daniel Estelrich at the agronomy department of Argentina’s National University of La Pampa.

“Today, a large part of that land is cultivated or covered with new, modified vegetation. The original flora can only be found along the roads and railroad tracks,” added Estelrich in a presentation at his university, located in the central province of La Pampa.

There are some 10,000 species of grass worldwide, including 553 in South America, where the grasslands provide a habitat for between 450 and 500 species of birds and around 100 species of mammals, such as the endangered pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus).

A mere 0.7 percent of the world’s grasslands, and only 0.3 percent in South America, are under any kind of protection, according to the Fundación Vida Silvestre.

The alliance for the conservation of the grasslands in the Southern Cone region got underway years ago in response to the urgent need to preserve this important ecosystem, and with the aim of integrating production and conservation activities.

“In the pampas, farming and livestock raising activities can exist in harmony alongside the conservation of biodiversity,” said Pedro Develey, coordinator of Important Bird Areas in Birdlife Brazil. “That’s why it’s important for producers to have incentives to raise livestock in the traditional manner.”

Develey pointed out that only two percent of the grasslands in Rio Grande do Sul remain intact, and that the biggest threat is the expansion of soybean cultivation.

“The challenge is to come up with an ecological certificate for meat produced on natural grasslands, where production is integrated with the preservation of flora and fauna,” he added.

Parera said society and governments must become aware of the importance of preserving this ecosystem. “Whether among cowboys, ‘vaqueros’ or gauchos, the challenges facing grasslands from one end of the Americas to the other have a great deal in common,” and people must “understand the need for an alliance between wildlife and production.”

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS – Inter Press Service and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists.) ENVIRONMENT: South America’s Forgotten Grasslands

Pablo D’Atri – IPS/IFEJ *

SANTA ROSA, Argentina, Dec 6 (IPS) – Grasslands provide humanity with “environmental services” worth billions of dollars a year. But only 0.7 percent of the world’s grasslands – and only 0.3 percent of those in South America – are protected.

A total of 39 million square km of grasslands cover nearly one-quarter of the earth’s continental land surface, making them one of the most extensive ecosystems in the world.

Among the best-known are the Great Plains of North America, the steppes of Eastern Europe and Mongolia, South Africa’s ‘veld’ or high plains, the grasslands of New Zealand, southern Brazil and Uruguay, and the pampas of Argentina.

Two of the world’s most important activities depend on grasslands: agriculture and the forest industry. In fact, a large part of the seeds, beef, dairy products, wool, leather and lumber consumed worldwide are produced on the grasslands.

According to a 1997 report coordinated by Robert Costanza, co-founder of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE), grasslands absorb some 60 kgs of carbon annually per hectare, reducing the accumulation of greenhouse gases – the prime culprits in global warming – in the atmosphere.

If an economic value was assigned to the “work” of grasslands in fighting climate change, it would be 1.20 dollars a year per hectare which, multiplied by the global extension of grasslands, adds up to a total of 4.68 billion dollars, according to the study, titled “The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital”.

The list of “ecosystem services” includes climate regulation, the protection and regeneration of soil fertility, pest and flood control, purification of water and air, and crop pollination. Costanza’s report suggests that nature could charge humanity some 900 billion dollars a year for these services alone.

In South America, the pampas of the Río de la Plata region cover 760,000 square km, in much of central Argentina, most of Uruguay and part of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Pampas and farmland form the basis of the economy of these three commodity-exporting nations.

Unlike forests or wetlands, grasslands, transformed into farmland or pastures, are seen by society as the place where food – grains and meat – is obtained, said Aníbal Parera, coordinator of an alliance for the conservation of the grasslands and pampas of South America’s Southern Cone region, a project financed by BirdLife International and its local partners in the region.

Human societies have historically used grasslands as pastureland or have transformed them and used them for other purposes like agriculture or forestry, says a report by Argentina’s Fundación Vida Silvestre (Wildlife Foundation) and the J.M. Kaplan Fund, a U.S. environmental grant funder.

In the study, more than 140 experts identified “the most valuable grasslands areas” in the pampas and countryside of Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil. They point out that in the last few decades, the area covered by grasslands has shrunk between one and 10 percent a year.

The pampas are a shrinking ecosystem, and virtually none of the original grasslands exist anymore, said Professor Daniel Estelrich at the agronomy department of Argentina’s National University of La Pampa.

“Today, a large part of that land is cultivated or covered with new, modified vegetation. The original flora can only be found along the roads and railroad tracks,” added Estelrich in a presentation at his university, located in the central province of La Pampa.

There are some 10,000 species of grass worldwide, including 553 in South America, where the grasslands provide a habitat for between 450 and 500 species of birds and around 100 species of mammals, such as the endangered pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus).

A mere 0.7 percent of the world’s grasslands, and only 0.3 percent in South America, are under any kind of protection, according to the Fundación Vida Silvestre.

The alliance for the conservation of the grasslands in the Southern Cone region got underway years ago in response to the urgent need to preserve this important ecosystem, and with the aim of integrating production and conservation activities.

“In the pampas, farming and livestock raising activities can exist in harmony alongside the conservation of biodiversity,” said Pedro Develey, coordinator of Important Bird Areas in Birdlife Brazil. “That’s why it’s important for producers to have incentives to raise livestock in the traditional manner.”

Develey pointed out that only two percent of the grasslands in Rio Grande do Sul remain intact, and that the biggest threat is the expansion of soybean cultivation.

“The challenge is to come up with an ecological certificate for meat produced on natural grasslands, where production is integrated with the preservation of flora and fauna,” he added.

Parera said society and governments must become aware of the importance of preserving this ecosystem. “Whether among cowboys, ‘vaqueros’ or gauchos, the challenges facing grasslands from one end of the Americas to the other have a great deal in common,” and people must “understand the need for an alliance between wildlife and production.”

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS – Inter Press Service and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)