Laboratory of Desertification, Ecological Restoration, Sustainable Management and Territorial Planning of drylands (LaDyOT+REM)

The main areas of research focus on:

Integrated monitoring and assessment of land degradation/desertification. Indicators and benchmarks. Physical-biological and socioeconomic subsystems. Participatory diagnostics and mapping. Monitoring and evaluation of desertification. Land degradation neutrality (NDT). Contributions to the National Observatory on Land Degradation and Desertification (ONDTyD) (RIOSP CONICET network).

Ecological restoration (RE) in drylands. Restoration in areas impacted by different economic activities -livestock, mining, oil, etc. Generation of basic and applied knowledge for the development of RE technologies. Active and passive restoration. Ecology, physiology, ecophysiology and genetics of species native to arid zones. Nursery of native species. Selection of species and origins with sustainability criteria. Revegetation of different arid zones ecosystems. Implementation of actions for the recovery of degraded/decertified lands. Monitoring and follow-up. Indexes and indicators definition of success in restoration.

Land use planning (OT). Integrated inventory of resources for planning and management. Participatory processes. Zoning. Land cover and land use changes. Contributions to the formulation of public policies in the field of territorial planning; planning and conservation at the national, provincial and municipal levels. Tools for management and conservation of natural resources. Territorial development. Management guidelines for protected areas, critical areas and interface areas. Sustainable public use of peri-urban spaces. Recreation and tourism in nature. Perceptions, attitudes and socio-environmental values.

Sustainable Land Management (MST). Generation of knowledge for native dryland forests, grasslands and natural shrubs management. MST practices with gender perspective in natural, rural, urban and peri-urban areas. MST technologies and approaches. Impact monitoring. Mainstreaming/integration of MST into public policy. MST cost benefit. Local Development: design and implementation of a Demonstration Unit for the Sustainable Use of Natural and Cultural Resources of the territory (UPyS) with special reference to the obtaining and sustainable use of water resources.

Sustainable management of livestock. Development of tools, guidelines and livestock management strategies for the sustainable use of natural resources in arid zones. Forest management with Integrated livestock (MBGI). Grazing cattle behaviour in extensive production systems. Nutritional balance of grazing animals. Determination of nutritional requirements, intake and nutrient utilization of grazing livestock. Links between use of natural resources, nutritional balance and productivity of livestock production systems in arid areas. Enhancement of the El Divisadero Field – Ñacuñán Biosphere Reserve.

Dryland wetlands. Integrated inventory of wetland systems. Monitoring system based on indicators and benchmarks. Identification of priority and/or critical wetlands due to land degradation processes. Development of guidelines for sustainable management and management of wetlands. Guidelines for ecological restoration and conservation of dryland wetlands.

Socio-environmental risks. Risk, threat, vulnerability and resilience. Perception and behaviour. MST practices and adaptation strategies. Mainstreaming into OT policies and regional planning.

Ecosystem services (SE). Identification and participatory valuation in drylands. Participatory mapping in SE provision schemes. Internalization in public policies, especially referred to territorial planning processes.