Integrated valuation of alternative land use scenarios in the agricultural ecosystem of a watershed with limited available data, in the Pampas region of Argentina

Abstract

Historically, Argentina has been among the world leaders in the production and export of agricultural products. The country is increasingly confronted with severe conflicts that originate from trade-offs between actors involved in the agricultural sector. This work presents an integrated valuation of alternative land use scenarios in the Carcarañá River Lower Basin, offering a way to link the various value domains by involving a broad set of multidimensional indicators and stakeholder concerns. Twenty-one indicators that address all three pillars of sustainability, environmental, economic and social, are selected and quantified. Three scenarios are analyzed: the Actual scenario, dominated by industrial-scale agriculture that primarily yields soybeans, maize and wheat; a Conservation Agriculture scenario, promoting permanent soil cover by crop rotation and the implementation of untreated buffer zones around the cities; and a Short Sighted Exploitation scenario, contributing to short-term profits for agribusiness but increasing pressure on the natural resources. A decision support system is implemented in the Driver, Pressure, State, and Ecosystem Services indicator framework. The Conservation Agriculture scenario is identified as the best option by stakeholders grouped into Regulatory State, Civil Society and Consensus perspectives. A ranking change occurs when the valuation is carried out from the Private Sector point of view and the Actual scenario comes in first position. We dare to say that the methodology presented in this work is a socio-technical innovation that can contribute to the process needed to achieve broad consensus among the agribusiness actors in Argentina.