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This article analyzes bottom-up institution-building processes in a region considered deforestation and environmental degradation hotspot. Utilizing the constitutionality approach developed by Haller, Acciaioli, and Rist (2016), we examine two recent cases of bottom-up institution-building in the department of Rivadavia, Chaco Salteño, Argentina. We highlight the similarities and differences between both constitutionality processes and identify various weaknesses in the two cases. We argue that constitutionality, understood as a process, has occurred to different (incomplete) degrees in each case. Finally, we show that external catalyzing agents play a decisive role in enabling or hampering the constitutionality process. Our study contributes to the literature on common-pool resource governance by highlighting how collective action can lead to participatory-development processes.

Deforestation causes biodiversity loss and the eviction of small-scale ranchers and indigenous people. Accordingly, it is a global issue in environmental politics. This article analyzes a participatory governance system associated with the implementation of Argentina’s forest law in a hotspot of deforestation: the province of Salta in the Gran Chaco ecoregion. Specifically, this article investigates policy actors’ core beliefs, how they match with policy network clusters, and how this affects the implementation of the forest law. The study is based on a unique data set derived from extensive fieldwork and a network survey among all actors who participate in the policy forums. After defining three main core beliefs that describe policy actors’ motivations, we systematically analyze all key actors’ beliefs as well as their interactions in the various policy networks. This analysis shows that it is necessary to empirically identify coalitions based on both behavior and core beliefs to understand the limited implementation of the law. Our methodological approach holds promise for the analysis of other governance systems where multiple stakeholders engage in consensus-oriented decision-making.

The Gran Chaco represents an important habitat that is undergoing significant changes, as a result of the expansion of the agricultural frontier, with a range of negative social and environmental consequences. Such a change is the result of a “bad transition” from an extensive/subsistence agricultural system towards a capital-intensive one, to which corresponds a completely different level of anthropization. The largest part of the Gran Chaco is located in Argentina. Partially as a response to the rapid loss of natural habitat in the region, Argentina passed a federal forest law in 2007. The law requires the different provinces to introduce a set of implementing regulations and adopt a territorial classification of native forests (TCNF), denoting different conservation values (high, medium and low). Although referring to the same federal law, the TCNFs developed by the various provinces in the Argentinian Chaco ecoregion differ significantly. We first develop a theoretical framework, which combines historical materialism with the theory of socio-ecological systems, to explain the emergence of institutional configurations. Through this framework, we hypothesise that the heterogeneity in the TCNFs results from the combination of contextual factors (i.e., differences in the physical environment among the provinces), material/economic conditions (i.e., production processes, social relationships and reproduction processes) and different forms of agency. We test the hypothesis by developing thick case-studies on the various Argentinian provinces in the Gran Chaco region via qualitative comparative analysis. The results allow determining which configurations co-occur with certain outcomes in terms of TCNFs. The results shed light on the process of emergence of differentiated environmental institutions in the region from the interactions of different conditions, contexts and forms of agency. This knowledge, in turn, could be extremely useful in navigating the Anthropocene while promoting a “good transition” towards sustainability.

The Gran Chaco is currently a global hotspot of deforestation and environmental degradation. Halting global warming and curbing biodiversity losses are urgent priorities and recent research suggests that sustainable smallholder production systems could contribute to maintain and restore key ecosystem services. This article examines the adoption of two silvopastoral practices in Argentina's Gran Chaco. We conducted a survey of 552 smallholders in three municipalities in the province of Salta. With the resulting data, we used multilevel models to assess adoption of the two practices. Our multilevel models indicate several factors that are associated with adoption, including: gender of the household head, year of establishment, literacy of the household head, membership in a producer organization, and socio-economic status. Our results suggest that paraje – groups of neighbouring households or joint settlements – are a good predictor of adoption, whereas nearby villages are only marginally associated with adoption. We conclude by highlighting the importance of accounting for local structures and groups of households in rural studies.

Studying social–ecological interactions systematically is difficult when dealing with case study data. The methodological flexibility inherent in case studies facilitates the discovery of complex relationships between social and ecological variables; however, it also poses problems for knowledge accumulation given the diverse ways that variables are measured, as well as the descriptive approaches to causal inference that are typically employed. This article builds on the Social-Ecological Systems Framework (SESF) to systematically compare interactions among variables across case studies. We adopt a ‘model-centered’ meta-analysis of existing SESF case studies, in which the units of analysis are causal explanations including sets of variables and their effects on outcomes (i.e. ‘models’). Our analysis encompassed 30 studies and resulted in the formalization of 125 models. The analysis illustrates opportunities to assess interactions at different levels of detail. The paper concludes by proposing strategies to advance the study and reporting of interactions in case studies to foster a better understanding of dynamics and outcomes of environmental sustainability.

This paper looks at Switzerland to examine the role of a small state during the negotiations of the Cartagena and the Nagoya Protocols to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The influence of this small country was substantial at some point in the negotiation processes and on important features of the protocols. The main explanatory factors for this influence are identified as the competence and the tactical skills of the Swiss delegations as well as the flexible and timely mandates they received. This was reinforced by the way the position formation process was organized at the domestic level, namely a lead ministry strongly committed to the process and an efficient coordination between domestic actors, including the delegations. The Swiss delegations were thus able to support the progress of the negotiations, and in parallel to secure some of their interest, by assuming entrepreneurial and intellectual leadership strategies in function of the evolution of domestic and international constraints and opportunities.