Argentina: Turning wasteland into woodland

In Santiago del Estero, one of the Argentine provinces hit hardest by deforestation and desertification, an oasis of native tree species is being created to restore the soil and entice back farmers who were forced to leave their land. "It's not easy, it's very costly and takes time, but it's possible to rehabilitate degraded land," Sonia Ramírez, head of the reforestation project underway around the village of Colonia El Simbolar, tells IPS. In that area, 1,150 km northwest of Buenos Aires, the project built a greenhouse for the Argentine Mesquite (Prosopis alba), a native tree, and has planted some 1,900 hectares of trees, which are now around two meters tall. The initial plan was to plant 3,000 hectares, but the project organizers scaled back their expectations to 2,000 hectares, which means the effort is nearing it goal. Some 100 farmers who had abandoned their land, where they once grew cotton, soybeans, fruit and vegetables, are taking part in the program. "Eighty percent of them are small farmers who were no longer able to survive on their land," Ramírez explains.