Rural Lands Protection Act

The Argentine Republic is one of the largest countries in the world. Its considerable surface, which places it in the eighth position of the list, covers 279,181,000 hectares; out

of which almost 96% are rural and a great percentage is located in drylands.

Natural resources are irreplaceable and invaluable goods. Land and everything it offers should be treated respectfully and in a sustainable way. A way of protecting rural lands and their gifts is by means of a record that accounts for those lands that belong to foreign people. In fact, the lack of a record of

this calibre resulted in the need of establishing regulations that can solve the problem: Law N 26.737 passed on 22 December, 2011.

Apart from determining the amount of existing rural lands, it regulates land acquisition by foreign people. Furthermore, it

is intended to establish the cadastral

ownership, land registration and the ownership possession, whatever the intended use or production purpose may be; as well as to establish obligations arising from the ownership or the possession of those lands, according to the law.

It is essential that the provinces participate in order to make the law be fulfilled. They have to inform the total amount of rural lands that are under the ownership of foreign natural or legal persons, or owned by foreign people. The ownership will be established by the registrations made in the corresponding Real Property Registry

Office. As regards property ownership, it will be made through the Registry of Owners (in case there is any) or by means of the sources of information that the enforcement authority may deem appropriate.

The Regulatory Decree N 274, signed on 29 February, 2012, imposes on Argentine provinces the obligation of communicating the enforcement authority their total surface; as well as of their departments, municipalities or equivalent political divisions. In this notification, rural and urban lands should be discriminated. The total surface of each province shall be determined by the Inter-Ministerial Council of Rural Lands (see box below).

In order to implement the law and guarantee its implementation, on 1 June, 2012, the National Rural Lands Registry of the Argentine Ministry of Justice and Human Rights began to function. At first, it was created as an

organization that would carry out the control and monitor policies related to the acquisition of rural lands by foreign people, both natural persons and legal entities.

In conversation with the Digital Newsletter and in relation to the implementation process and the importance of

the participation of the provinces, Florencia Gmez, National Director of the National Rural Lands Registry of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, pointed out: First of all, we had to establish an ongoing dialogue with the provinces, so as to then make advancements in the elaboration of a registry. This is essential to get to know the land-related situation and begin to enforce the law. She also added: To discuss about the land issue and who the owners of these lands are add to the clarity of both the fiscal theme and the development of public policies.

New rules

Since the new law has been sanctioned, those people who intend to acquire rural lands in the country will have first to obtain a certificate of habilitation, either submitted or denied by the National Rural Land Registry, which

has a collection and systematization of data on the ownership of rural lands obtained from cadastres; as well as

from the Real Property Record of all the Argentine provinces. Furthermore, such information has been processed together with that coming from other governmental agencies related to borders, water resource, migrations and the geography of the country.

The due proceedings to obtain the certificate of habilitation is completely digitalized (Since February, 2013, the Proceed and Application System has been in operation on the basis of an own software developed by the Ministry

Justice and Human Rights). It has to be applied for in the website and then, digitally signed and sent by e-mail. In order to carry out this operation, the Registry Office will have to certify that the procedure is within the limits established by such a law. Moreover, it is possible to make a complaint in the Registry Office even if it is anonymous through their website. Many peasants have made online complaints about lands being in foreign hands, Florencia Gmez points out.

The Law in detail

Public Law N 26.737 establishes several requirements, such as those that state that foreignized rural

lands do not exceed 15% of the subprovincial, provincial or national surfaces; that those owned by holders of the same nationality do not exceed 4,5% of the surface at a subprovincial, provincial or national levels; and that a same owner does not have more than 1,000 hectares, or equivalent. Furthermore, the law forbids the acquisition of rural lands which either have substantial and permanent bodies of water or border them.

As in all cases, the law does not infringe on the rights already acquired by land owners, but it rules on the operations that have been carried out since this rule was approved.

According to the results of the survey conducted by the National Rural Lands Registry Office, at present, there are 15,881,069 hectares that have been left in foreign hands; this represents the 5.93% of rural lands at a national level (see box 1 and table 1).

Graphic 1. Nationalities on the basis of the hectares declared by foreign people in compliance of Law N 26.737

Source: National Rural Lands Registry

Table 1. Province per province

Source: National Rural Lands Registry

After a historical information gap and thanks to the approval of Law N 26.737, it is possible to create a unified

database of the national land registry, in order to get to know the percentage of the rural surface belonging to foreign people or companies; so as to guarantee both territorial sovereignty and natural resources.

According to Florencia Gmez, this law refrains foreign people from financial speculation. Moreover, it is the first step to know who the owners of our lands are, in order to be able to protect them.

When the law was created, we could not even imagine that we would be able to do such a huge cadastral work. Nowadays, Argentine people, this Government and those people who come to our country will have the possibility

of managing and getting to know the situation of their natural resources, such as water and land, which are essential resources for this XXI century, the President of the Argentine Nation, Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner opportunely points out.

Acknowledgement

* Florencia Gmez, National Director of the National Rural Land Record of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

Synergies between the Observatory and GEF Chaco

As regards the activities planned within the framework of the Project on Forest Sustainable Management in the Cross-border Ecosystem of the Great American Chaco (GEF Chaco), between 27 and 29 August, staff from the

Department of Land Conservation and Combat Desertification (SayDS, for its name in Spanish) and of the GEF Chaco, made a monitoring visit to the Projects geographical assessment area, which is located in Santos Lugares, province of Santiago del Estero.

The visit was coordinated by the people in charge of the geographical assessment area in the Department of Forests and Fauna of the above-mentioned province. It was held together with the staff of the GEF Chaco Department in Santiago del Estero and of technicians of the Faculty of Forestry Sciences of the National University of Santiago del Estero.

During the first month, the influence area of the geographical assessment area was all gone through and the regions of Pozo Limpio, Campo Grande, Maravilla and Bajo Grande were visited together with the areas small-size

producers engaged in the different tasks. In these locations, it could be confirmed that the activities planned for the first fourth-month period among which it is worth mentioning the installation of the perimeter fences to delimit the plots of land were executed correctly.

During the second session, there was a meeting with the representatives of the National Observatory on Land Degradation and Desertification, in order to articulate the activities to be developed within such a framework with those planned within the GEF Chaco Project. This is to strengthen the already existing capacities and generate synergies between both projects.

It is worth pointing out that the geographical area of Santos Lugares is the link between the activities carried out by GEF Chaco at a local level and those developed by the Observatory, also at the same level. That is why it was agreed that to sign a letter agreement between both parties in order to organize the joint work.

This visit was of utmost importance to concrete the synergy activities that will be carried out in the geographical

assessment area of the National Observatory on Land Degradation and Desertification in Santiago del Estero and the GEF Chaco Project. Moreover, this experience is quite enriching; and its monitoring and assessing features will be benefited, Mara Tonelli, who works in the Department of Land Conservation and Combat Desertification, expressed.

Waterboxx Training Course in Santiago del Estero

Within the framework of the Project on Forest Sustainable Management in the Cross-border Ecosystem of the Great American Chaco, last 6 September, a training course on Waterboxx was held in the Faculty of Forestry Sciences of the National University of Santiago del Estero.

This course was based on the GEF Chaco pilot experience and was given by professionals of the company Groatec-Groasis. Such a company is implementing a system for both arid and semi-arid areas, without irrigation water consumption.

In relation to this theme, the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Forestry Sciences, Victor Hugo Acosta, said: this kind of activities contributes to achieve one of the most essential goals of our careers, which is to help with the sustainable management of natural resources.

Eng. Marco Flores Maldonado, Regional Coordinator of GEF Chaco Project points out on this issue: This is an initiative propelled thanks to the Project, with the purpose of involving the university stages; so as to try a new

technology that can be translated into an alternative; not only to recover degraded areas in arid regions, but also for family production. This is due to the fact that using this technology; water requirements are minimum for the establishment of vegetation.

Oscar Rueda Avellaneda

Brimming over with wisdom and good mood, he is about to change his office for outdoor landscapes. We are referring to our colleague, Oscar Rueda Avellaneda, whose retirement is very close, will no longer work in the Department of Soil Conservation and Combat Desertification, of the Secretariat of

Environment and Sustainable Development. Throughout the years, Oscar, in parallel with his work related to the environment, has developed an important artistic work towards music, which has taken him to play on the scenarios of several countries.

Below, our readers will find a piece of work written by Oscar in 1995, in honour to all those people who care about our lands. Undoubtedly, it is a message to think

deeply about the way we have to follow to revert the

scourge of desertification.

On 15 October, it is the deadline for the submission of nominations for the Mexican Award for Science and Technology 2013.

This prize, which has been awarded since 1990, recognizes the scientific and technological research works carried out by researchers and technologists of great professional prestige, who have significantly contributed to either the universal scientific knowledge or to the technological advance.

For more information, please visit http://ccc.gob.mx/premio-mexico.

http://ccc.gob.mx/premio-mexicohttp://ccc.gob.mx/premio-mexico