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Recent News » New Resource: A new guide for the cattlemen of the Pampas recently launched by Southern Cone Grassland Initiative

Marino, G.D. 2008. Buenas prácticas ganaderas para conservar la vida silvestre de las Pampas. Una guía para optimizar la producción y conservar la biodiversidad de los pastizales de la Bahía Samborombón y la Cuenca del Río Salado. Con la coordinación de F. Miñarro y G. Stamatti y la colaboraciones de M. Beade, E. Jacobo, C. Marull, A. Rodríguez y M. Uhart. Aves Argentinas/Asociación Ornitológica del Plata, Buenos Aires. Coeditado con la Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina y BirdLife International.
 
As a part of the ongoing conservation activities at the Pampas grasslands, the Alliance of the Southern Cone is launching an original publication supported by Aves Argentinas, Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina and the National Institute for Agriculture and Technology (INTA).
 
The guide presents information about the ecology and sustainable management of the native grasslands of Argentina. One of the main issues is the understanding of the major ecological forces that drive the functioning of the grassland in the context of cattle raising activities. Native plants and birds are presented like bio-indicators, as tools that can be used by the cattlemen to recognize the range condition and the conservation status of the grassland.
 
Based on scientific literature, it introduces some practices that enhance or maintain the wildlife of the Pampas whilst maintaining levels of livestock production. The handbook focuses particularly on practices like grazing management that can be relatively easily adopted by ranchers.
 
To date, there has been no guide for ranchers providing advice in relation to cattle management practices that support biodiversity on ranches but also increase agricultural yields to meet the growing demand. Available literature has only presented the practices without mentioning benefits to biodiversity.
 
The guide is written in a simple Spanish style and illustrated with several pictures and figures along 90 pages of high quality paper. Moreover, some of the grassland species are pictured in a high definition brochure, which can be used at the field for the recognition of the different habitat quality.
 
This handbook starts with a background to ecology and biodiversity, with a description of the ecosystem services provided for the grassland. The second part describes the different practices that can be adopted by ranchers, specifically: 1) grazing management, 2) reseeded and fertilization, 3) prescribed fire and 4) water excess management. The convenience and advantages of the production and certification of the friendly grassland beef are also clearly pointed.
 
Finally, as a response of the growing pressure on it, the native grasslands are valued in the economic and sustainable development sense. Hence, topics like fragmentation and the importance to buffer the natural protected areas, the biological invasions and the illegal hunting are addressed in the final part of the book.
 
You can download it for free, in PDF format, at: http://www.avesargentinas.org.ar/cs/conservacion/pastizales.php

For hard copies, write or email:

Aves Argentinas / AOP
Departamento de Conservación
Matheu 1246/8
(C1249AAB) Buenos Aires - Argentina
Tel + 5411-4943 7216 al 19

Posted By Sajal Sthapit at 9:42am on 23 January 2009