Abstract
Governments need good information to design policies. However, inthe Argentine Pampas there are neither sufficient knowledge on environmental issues, nor clear perception of environmental alterations across space and time. The general objective of this work was to provide decision makers with a scientifically sound set of indicators aiming at the assessment of current status andfuture trends in the rural environment of this sensitiveregion. As driving criteria to select indicators, weassumed that they had to be sound, simple to calculate,easy to understand, and easily applicable by decision makers. They are related closely to significantecological structures and functions. Twelve basicindicators were identified: (1) land use, (2) fossil energyuse, (3) fossil energy use efficiency, (4) nitrogen (N)balance, (5) phosphorus (P) balance, (6) nitrogencontamination risk, (7) phosphorus contamination risk, (8) pesticide contamination, (9) soil erosion risk, (10) habitatintervention, (11) changes in soil carbon stock, and (12) balance of greenhouse gases. Indicators were geographicallyreferenced using a geographic information system (GIS). Thestrength of this study is not in the absolute value ofenvironmental indicators, but rather in theconceptualization of indicator and the identification ofchanging patterns, gradients and trends in space and time.According to our results, we can not definitely say thatagriculture in the Pampas, as a whole, tends to besustainable or not. While some indicators tend to improve,others keep stable, and the rest worsen. The relative importance among indicators must also be considered. The indicators that showed a negative net change are key to the identification of critical problems that will require special attention in the close future.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: 2000, 'Environmental Sustainability of Canadian Agriculture', in T. J. McRae, C. A. S. Smith and L. J. Gregorich (eds), Report of the Agri-Environmental Indicador Project.
Allen, T. F. H. and Starr, T. B.: 1982, Hierarchy Perspectives of Ecological Complexity, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Bernardos, J. N., Viglizzo, E. F., Jouvet, V., Lértora, F. A., Pordomingo, A. J. and Cid, F. D.: 2001, 'The use of EPIC model to study the agroecological change during 93 years of farming transformation in the Argentine pampas', Agricult. Syst. 69, 215-234.
CASAFE: 1997, 'Guía de Productos Fitosanitarios para la RepÚblica Argentina', Cámara de Sanidad Agropecuaria y Fertilizantes, Buenos Aires.
Cole, C. V., Stewart, J. W. B., Ojima, D. S., Parton, W. J. and Schimel, D. S.: 1989, 'Modelling Land Use Effect of Soil Organic Matter Dynamics in the North American Great Plains', in M. Clarholm and L. Bergstrom (eds), Ecology of Arable Lands, Kluwer Academic Publishers, NY.
Conforti, P. and Giampietro, M.: 1997, 'Fossil energy use in agriculture: An international comparison', Agricult. Ecosyst. Environ. 65, 231-243.
Covas, G.: 1989, 'Evolución del manejo de suelos en la región pampeana semiárida', Actas de las Primeras Jornadas de Suelos en Zonas Aridas y Semiáridas, Santa Rosa (LP), Argentina, pp. 1-11.
Desjardins, R. L. and Riznek, R.: 2000, 'Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Budget', in T. J. McRae, C. A. S. Smith, and L. J. Gregorich (eds), Environmental Sustainability of Canadian Agriculture: Report of the Agri-Environmental Indicador Project, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, pp. 133-140.
FAO: 1989, Guidelines for Land Use Planning, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome.
Hall, A. J., Rebella. C. M., Ghersa, C. M. and Culot, J. Ph.: 1992, 'Field-crop Systems of the Pampas', in C. J. Pearson (ed.), Field Crop Ecosystems, Serie: Ecosystems of the World, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam.
IGBP/HDP: 1995, 'Land-Use and Land-Cover Change: Science/Research Plan', Report No. 35 of The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), and Report No. 7 of The Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme (HDP), Stockholm.
IPCC: 1996, IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Reference Manual, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Technical Support Unit, Bracknell, U.K.
Lal, R.: 1994, 'Sustainable Land Use Systems and Soil Resilience', in D. J. Greenland and I. Szabolcs (eds), Soil Resilience and Sustainable Land Use, C.A.B. International, Wallingford, U.K.
McDonald, K. B.: 2000, 'Risk of Water Contamination by Nitrogen'. in T. J. McRae, C. A. S. Smith and L. J. Gregorich (eds), Environmental Sustainability of Canadian Agriculture: Report of the Agri-Environmental Indicador Project, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, pp. 161-170.
Pimentel, D.: 1999, 'Environmental and Economic Benefits of Sustainable Agriculture', in J. Kohn, J. Gowdy, F. Hinterberger and M. A. Northampton (eds), Sustainability in Question: The Search for a Conceptual Framework, New York.
Rabbinge, R., Van Diepen, C. A., Dijsselbloem, J., De Konig, G. H. J., Van Latesteijn, H. C., Woltjer, E. and Van Zijl, J.: 1994, 'Ground for Choices: A Scenario Study on Perspectives for Rural Areas in the European Community', in L. O. Fresco, L. Stroosnijder, J. Bouma and H. van Keulen (eds), The Future of Land: Mobilising and Integrating Knowledge for Land Use Options, John Wiley Sons Ltd., New York, pp. 95-121.
Reed, W., Shu, G. and Hills, F. J.: 1986, 'Energy input and output analysis of four field crops in California', J. Agron. Crop Sci. 157, 99-104.
Sala, O. E., Stuart Chapin, F., Armesto, J. J., Berlow, E. et al.: 2000, 'Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100', Science 287, 1770-1774.
Satorre, E.: 2000, 'Production Systems in the Argentine Pampas and their Ecological Impact', in O. T. Solbrig, F. di Castri and R. Paarlberg (eds), The Impact of Global Change and Information on the Rural Environment, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Stout, B. A.: 1991, Handbook of Energy for World Agriculture, Elsevier, New York.
Van Latesteijn, H. C.: 1993, 'A Methodological Framework to Explore Long Term Options for Land Use', in F.W. T. Penning de Vries et al. (eds), Systems Approaches for Agricultural Development, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 445-455.
Viglizzo, E. F.: 1982, 'Los Potenciales de Producción de Carne en la Región Pampeana Semiárida', in E. F. Viglizzo (ed.), Primeras Jornadas Técnicas sobre Producción Animal en la Región Pampeana Semiárida, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina.
Viglizzo, E. F., Lértora, F. A., Pordomingo, A. J., Bernardos, J., Roberto, Z. E. and Del Valle, H.: 2001, 'Ecological lessons and applications from one century of low external-input farming in the pampas of Argentina', Agricult. Ecosyst. Environ. 81, 65-81.
Viglizzo, E. F., Roberto, Z. E., Lértora, F., López Gay, E. and Bernardos, J.: 1997, 'Climate and land-use change in field-crop ecosystems of Argentina', Agricult. Ecosyst. Environ. 66, 61-70.
Villa, F. and McLeod, H.: 2002, 'Environmental vulnerability indicators for environmental planning and decision-making: Guidelines and applications', Environ. Manage. 29, 335-348.
Williams, J. R., Jones, C. A., Kiniry, J. R. and Spanel, D. A.: 1989, 'The EPIC crop growth model', Transact. ASAE 32, 497-511.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Viglizzo, E.F., Pordomingo, A.J., Castro, M.G. et al. Environmental Assessment of Agriculture at a Regional Scale in the Pampas of Argentina. Environ Monit Assess 87, 169–195 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024654316879
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024654316879