Our commitment: more and better protected areas to improve quality of life

At Natura Argentina, we promote the creation of protected areas to conserve natural and cultural diversity in Argentina. Protected areas are tools that strengthen local capacities to conserve nature and culture and support the sustainable development of regional economies. 

Protected areas are key to meeting conservation challenges, reducing poverty, and mitigating climate change. Protecting these spaces guarantees biodiversity and ecosystem services, such as watershed protection, pest control, and disease prevention.

They also safeguard landscapes and cultural sites, promoting recreation, tourism, and well-being.

Protected areas are more than nature reserves: they are spaces where nature and people meet, where not only the conservation of natural values but also cultural values flourish.

There is no community without nature! That is why we work together with local people to give public value to the different conservation actions. Take a tour through our projects in some of the most incredible places in Argentina.

Parque Nacional Ansenuza

Córdoba

In 2022, thanks to a joint effort between the national and provincial governments and the municipalities, numerous institutions, civil society organizations, and the local community, we succeeded in transforming this place -the largest endorheic basin in South America and a RAMSAR site-, in a National Park and Reserve.

Thus, the Mar Chiquita lagoon and the Río Dulce wetlands are now protected by three conservation categories: the National Park and Reserve (661,416 hectares) and the Multiple Use Reserve (398,584 hectares).

In this project, Natura Argentina collaborates in the technical assistance of the project and promotes participation and social involvement through diffusion, awareness, and environmental education tasks. In addition, it seeks to promote the cultural and landscape value of the region through ecotourism to promote the development of local economies.

The Project

This wetland stands out for its great diversity of environments and constitutes a key site for worldwide biodiversity conservation.

Its grasslands, mountains, and coastal sites allow a great variety of wildlife, including three of the six species of flamingos in the world. In addition, the quintessential long-distance migrants arrive here: the tricolor phalaropes or swimming plovers.

This region is the habitat of multiple species currently categorized under different degrees of threat, such as the maned wolf, the collared peccary, and the mataco bola.

Río Dulce Wetlands

Santiago del Estero

This project is focused on the province of Santiago del Estero, in the northern area of the Mar Chiquita lagoon wetland and the Río Dulce delta. There is a great opportunity there to conserve some 300,000 hectares of wetlands.

To the south of this territory, the Ansenuza National Park and Reserve are located, for which reason the Natura team in Argentina proposes to contribute with the necessary technical work so that the communities and the government of Santiago de Estero can also designate this area as a protected area, expanding the conservation area.

We work with local communities to collect information, carry out biological studies in the area, promote institutional dialogue, and propose spaces for environmental education.

The Project

The Mar Chiquita lagoon and the delta of the Río Dulce form an incredible and enormous wetland of at least one million hectares, the largest saline wetland in South America. Its rich concentrations of colonial and migratory waterbirds support more than 1% of the world’s population of 20 species.

The plains associated with the habitats surrounding the wetlands support endangered mammal species such as the jaguarundi, collared peccary, and pampas gray fox, as well as numerous amphibians, reptiles, and fish.

Sierras de Chañi

Salta Province

Natura Argentina supports the conservation and protection of areas of the Sierras de Chañi, in the Department of Rosario de Lerma, Province of Salta.

We develop tools to provide real opportunities to protect natural and cultural heritage and promote local, comprehensive, sustainable, and harmonious development with the environment.

The Project

The rivers that originate in this area are of fundamental importance. Together with the glaciers of the highest peaks, they constitute one of the water sources for the entire region.

The altitudinal gradient determines the presence of various assemblages of fauna and flora, being the habitat of at least five species in danger of extinction at the national level, among them: the taruca, the Andean cat, and the subpopulation of guanacos from the Puna of Salta.
In addition to its biological importance, the region is part of the ancestral territory of the original communities of the Tastil People.

Santa Victoria Este

Salta Province

Salta, in northern Argentina. There, we work to create alliances to conserve the Chaco forest.

This challenge advances thanks to the actions that we coordinate with community members, the government, civil society organizations, and academic sectors.

We jointly promote strategies for conserving biodiversity and nature, including creating protected areas, training in conservation and environmental management, and knowledge exchange.

The Project

Santa Victoria Este is located about 160 km east of Tartagal city. Five ethnic groups of native peoples and Creole settlers coexist here.

In this place so far from the big cities, there is an environment with communities of palo santo, a riverside forest of carob trees, a forest of quebrachos, and palm groves. These forests, next to the Pilcomayo River, lagoons, and associated grasslands, are the habitat of 38 species of mammals. Among them were the anteater and the collared peccary. There are also at least 173 species of birds, such as the yabirú and the talkative parrot.

Some species, such as the giant armadillo and the black woodpecker, are threatened with extinction.

Sierras del Famatina

La Rioja Province

We have been working since 2014 to create conservation alliances with the communities of five municipalities that make up the majestic Sierras del Famatina.

It is a triple-impact project:

  • It preserves biodiversity and its associated ecosystem services, guaranteeing the ecological functionality of the Sierras system.
  • It ensures the growth of a local economy based on tourism and sustainable, productive activities.
  • It values the social and cultural heritage of the region.

We develop consensus strategies to create a protected area of important cultural, environmental, and social values. In addition, we promote conservation actions with the communities that live there.

The Project

It is an area of glaciers with a complex associated water system, biodiversity, and cultural heritage, crowned by a landscape of extraordinary beauty.

It is the habitat of more than 35 endemic species of plants and large populations of herbivores, such as the guanaco and taruca; and emblematic birds, such as the Andean condor.

In addition, the Sierras de Famatina houses an important cultural heritage: archaeological sites with petroglyphs and pictographs of the Diaguita and Capayán peoples.

Here is a section of the Qhapaq Ñan (Andean road system), which, together with its tamberías, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Finally, the Cable Carril National Historical Monument of the La Mejicana gold mine represents one of the greatest engineering works in the world of the 20th century.

Uspallata National Park

Mendoza Province

We are working on a proposal to create the first National Park in the Uspallata Valley, in the province of Mendoza. The objective is to guarantee the conservation of the Mendoza River basin’s headwaters, the primary water source for human consumption and production in the north of the province. We also accompany the implementation project of the Defense Reserve, to consolidate it as a natural protected area, where the local army and the community of Uspallata act as guardians of nature.

This project represents an opportunity to conserve water, biodiversity, and the town’s history and promote local development through sustainable tourism.

The Project

Located 123 km from the City of Mendoza, Uspallata is a mountain oasis, which contains a representative sample of the ecoregions of Monte, Puna, and the High Andes; and its ecotones, characterized by a high degree of endemism.

In Uspallata are the headwaters of the Mendoza River, and a system comprising more than 80 glaciers, watercourses, and high-altitude wetlands (vegas), make up a large reservoir of pure water.

The Uspallata Ranch is a key area in terms of the cultural and natural wealth of the country. It is an area of public and national interest: the cradle of the history of the independence of our country and Latin America.

The area is the habitat of one of the five most endangered cats in the world, the Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita).

There is also a great wealth of cultural values related to the original settlers, the Inca occupation, the San Martinian epic, and the heyday of the trans-Andean railway.

Sierras of Ambato

Catamarca Province

The Sierras de Ambato, in Catamarca, are the scene of an ambitious conservation project that seeks to protect one of the most diverse ecosystems in the province. Thanks to the joint work between local governments, communities and environmental organizations, a mosaic of municipal reserves has been formed, consolidating Catamarca as a benchmark in integrated environmental planning.

This ecological corridor is key to the preservation of endangered species and the protection of essential water basins for the region. Through this project, Natura Argentina supports the consolidation of these protected areas, promoting sustainable management models that benefit both biodiversity and local communities.

The Project

The work area is focused on the southern zone of the Sierras de Ambato. This surface has singular biological, cultural, and archaeological values: it presents a wide altitudinal gradient and diverse environments, with forests of very high conservation value.

The southernmost remnants of the Yungas are found there, which include pino del cerro and Myrcianthes mato; threatened species such as the emblematic taruca; and little-known endemic plant and vertebrate species.

Fundamental watercourses originate in this area to provide water for local consumption and irrigation in a productive area, semi-arid like the Central Valley, and arid like the Bolsón de Pipanaco.

We also find a fascinating archaeological heritage within a time range from 200 AD to 1200 AD. In addition, it is worth highlighting the traditional practices of use and management of water for irrigation, the diversity of productive forms on a family scale (with low environmental impact), and religious festivities, part of the cultural heritage of local communities.