The economic context is complex. The deregulation of the yerba mate market has collapsed the prices of the raw material of the main production source of the town, which is also the most affected by the distribution of provincial revenue sharing.

Andresito, however, implemented a groundbreaking decision that implies collecting less; that is, fewer resources in exchange for a green legacy. This is an example that stands out amongst other initiatives that also aim at preserving biodiversity while tackling climate change. In first-world countries, taxes are being charged to producers to offset agricultural emissions. On a global scale, Denmark has made the first step. As from 2030, this climate tax on agriculture will be set at 300 Danish kroner (40 euros, 43 US dollars) per CO2e ton, increasing to 750 Danish kroner (100 euros, 107 US dollars) by 2035.

Until a few years ago, Andresito was the only municipality established in Misiones. Apart from Parque Nacional Iguazú (Iguazú National Park), in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a colonization program was launched to encourage numerous families to challenge the forest by producing yerba mate and extracting timber in an area of virgin rainforest. Forty years later, though no longer abundant, some forest still remains. Therefore, Andresito decided to award those who preserve it in their farms with municipal tax exemptions.

Mayor Bruno Meck smiles as he explains the details of the preservation plan, given it was set right in the midst of an economic decline. ‘In Andresito, people have voted for this change, whose consequences for the economy are negative, especially for the yerba mate. But just as there is a national call for adjustments by the national government, the private sector must respond in the same way – thus, it is a matter of adapting. We made the necessary adjustments within the municipality: we have not renewed multiple service contracts, we have restricted plenty of services and, naturally, with yerba mate accounting for 70% of the municipal economic activity, today’s low prices affect us significantly. We have more than 1470 kilometers of roads, which is equivalent to the distance from here to Mar del Plata. Maintaining roads in good condition for production is complicated due to the high cost of fuel and spare parts. So, overall, what is happening affects us greatly, but that does not mean we should give up – on the contrary, we must double our efforts, seek out other initiatives and overcome the situation,’ he explains.

In this context, the decision of resigning resources in exchange for environmental protection takes on a whole new dimension.

‘We did not reduce taxes; we removed them,’ Beck claims confidently. ‘The truth is that if we do not take care of the environment in this region, where we are surrounded by parks, all our efforts will be in vain. We promote forest and biodiversity preservation; that is incredibly important for us. In a way, we are sparking this initiative in the community; we can protect, we can do something. It is not much, though. I wish the province could do the same,’ the mayor explains, who has been in office for several terms.

The response to the municipal initiative was very positive. ‘So far, we have not had any problems – quite the opposite, actually. This is pushing us to continue moving forward, as there are many people who still have forests in their farms, but do not see any economic benefit from it. So that is also the goal: to encourage them to preserve these areas.’

There are many young people behind the environmental preservation plan, as well as Hugo Cámara, an environmentalist that made Andresito his home. ‘Through the City Council, the municipality created an ordinance that introduces municipal conservation and development corridors, an innovative concept that highlights the importance of certain sectors of the municipality, where keeping the connectivity between the different blocks of protected areas is imperative. Andresito has several protected areas, but there are also many private properties outside those areas that include valuable forests that need to be preserved; for that reason, we created two corridors. One of them is almost fully established: the Urugua-í Corridor, best known for the Ecoduct, which has become almost a symbol. The other is in the Península, with a corridor that covers approximately 5000 to 5300 hectares. The goal is to preserve the mini-corridors that connect the various protected areas. Currently, there are roughly 11 protected areas within the corridor, together with national and provincial areas and private reserves under different types of management,’ Cámara listed. Amongst the main protected areas are Puente Verde – surrounded by lodges such as Surucuá – reserves like the one that produces organic yerba mate for Guayakí, or a plot belonging to Bayka, led by Matías Romano, the owner of San Sebastián de la Selva, who conducted an intense jungle restoration plan facing Foerster Park.

Forest protection is also an attraction for other sectors of the economy, namely tourism. ‘The municipality offers a tax incentive for conservation, which is an innovative approach at a municipal level. The response has been quite positive. At present, we have seven properties already sharing a preservation area and around 300 hectares of protected land within the corridor. That is a significant figure since they are key areas to preserve, which include important properties and people who have recognised that their farms hold a high value beyond the tax exemption. The Península has always been special for everyone; what we still have to work on is fostering that feeling of pride that farms are part of a larger project and that they help preserve biodiversity. Not everyone has a yaguareté (jaguar) walking around their property – some may see it as a catastrophe, whilst others consider it an honour,’ Cámara states.

‘It is a slow process, because it obviously takes time. It is not just about establishing a reserve –it is also about creating a management plan, conducting surveys and mapping, as well as determining its extension, provided that only the forest areas are included, not the entire property. The tax exemption does not cover the whole land, but only the plot that will be preserved.’

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Traductor: Fernanda Sotelo

Revisor: Norma Andrada

Tecnicatura Universitaria en Traducción e Interpretación en Inglés – UCAMI

Correo: c.extension@fch.ucami.edu.ar 

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