Abstract
Deforestation causes biodiversity loss and the eviction of small-scale ranchers and indigenous people. Accordingly, it is a global issue in environmental politics. This article analyzes a participatory governance system associated with the implementation of Argentina’s forest law in a hotspot of deforestation: the province of Salta in the Gran Chaco ecoregion. Specifically, this article investigates policy actors’ core beliefs, how they match with policy network clusters, and how this affects the implementation of the forest law. The study is based on a unique data set derived from extensive fieldwork and a network survey among all actors who participate in the policy forums. After defining three main core beliefs that describe policy actors’ motivations, we systematically analyze all key actors’ beliefs as well as their interactions in the various policy networks. This analysis shows that it is necessary to empirically identify coalitions based on both behavior and core beliefs to understand the limited implementation of the law. Our methodological approach holds promise for the analysis of other governance systems where multiple stakeholders engage in consensus-oriented decision-making.
Highlights
Deforestation, which causes biodiversity loss and the eviction of small-scale ranchers and indigenous people, is a global issue in environmental politics
This article analyzes the governance system associated with the implementation of Argentina’s forest law in an area that constitutes a hotspot of deforestation: the province of Salta, in the Gran Chaco ecoregion [1]
We address the issues of lacking effectiveness and poor implementation of the provincial forest law by asking the following research questions: (1) What are the existing core beliefs in Salta, and how do their proponents organize into advocacy coalitions? (2) How do core belief groups match with policy network clusters, and how does this affect implementation of forest law?
Summary
Deforestation, which causes biodiversity loss and the eviction of small-scale ranchers and indigenous people, is a global issue in environmental politics. This article analyzes the governance system associated with the implementation of Argentina’s forest law in an area that constitutes a hotspot of deforestation: the province of Salta, in the Gran Chaco ecoregion [1]. In 2007, Argentina’s adoption of the Federal Forest Law 26.331 (hereafter “forest law”). Marked a key change in government policy, making forest management a crucial issue in the national policy arena. The forest law represented a response to very high deforestation rates, especially in the northwest of the country [2]. Forest policy in Argentina builds on the concept of collaborative governance. The forest law prescribes that individual provinces must define their own implementation regulations to enforce the law through a participatory process (Art. 6, Law 26.331/2007)
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