Environmental Policies and Territorial Conflicts in Argentina—From the Deforestation of Native Forests to Agrochemical Spraying in the Province of Salta

Abstract

Since the end of the 20th century in Argentina, a new model of agricultural development has been established, with increasing environmental, social, and sanitary impacts. Based on the information collected and constructed during our doctoral research and the survey of new sources (documentary, statistics, cartographic, hemerographic, legislative and bibliographic), this article tries to unravel the advances and challenges ahead towards an environmental, social, and territorial scenario that is more just in the context of the implementation of the Argentine National Act 26,333 of "National Forests", enacted in 2007. We focus in the case of the province of Salta, in northern Argentina: a geographical space involved in processes of expansion of extractive frontiers over territories that emerge as living spaces for indigenous and rural populations, which have been historically marked by processes of subalternization and situations of deep environmental and social injustice.