The concept of “ecosystem services” as a tool to regulate the use and appropriation of the territory in the Paraná river Delta, Argentina

Abstract

The islands of the Paraná Delta (Argentina) constitute an environmentalist territory in dispute. Scientific experts and specialized technicians highlight the importance of conserving these wetlands and warn about the negative consequences that the practices of local people have on environmental dynamics due to the loss of the provision of ecosystem goods and services. In various regulations and the sustainability framework, this discourse is used as a legitimizer to prescribe the best forms of use and appropriation of the territory. In this sense, in the present work, we analyze through the construction of a specific documentary corpus how the concept "ecosystem services" emerges as a device of environmental governmentality in the wetlands of the Paraná Delta. We were able to corroborate that all the documents initiated from the proposal linked to the danger of the non-sustainable use of the islands. In turn, the experts justify the need for its conservation based on the ecosystem goods and services they provide to society without considering the local population’s sociopolitical matrix or problematizing those who access said services.