Introduction

The degradation of the subtropical forest in the Argentine north-west can be considered as an example of the effects of neo-liberal policies on nature conservation. These schemes refrain from any attempt at land use planning. What is more, these policies determine profound alterations in this mountain rainforest, which will strongly affect regional sustainability.

The Yungas ecoregion and the Paranaense forest are the hotspots of biodiversity in Argentina; the Yungas is the more extensive one. There are about 5000000 hectares of rainforest in north-west Argentina. As an example, the Yungas host 60% of the total number of bird species of the country as well as some particular mammals such as the jaguar (Panthera onca) and the Andean taruca (Hippocamelus antisensis). The latter is a mountain deer nominated as ‘national natural heritage’. At the same time, this subtropical rainforest is the water producer and the natural water basin for a vast irrigation region. Moreover, the Yungas is a huge carbon sink consisting of extensive forests grading into Andean grasslands at the highest altitudes (Figure 14.1). However, the condition of the Yungas is changing quickly, as indicated by the fact that an estimated 1 250 000 ha have been converted from nature into agriculture between 1975 and 1988 (Reboratti 1989). In this chapter we present an assessment of the changes in this conversion process, and discuss the effects of forest fragmentation on the connectivity of forest patches.