Less than 4% of the countrys natural grasslands are under protection: This puts a key ecosystem for environmental services and community development at risk, study warns

In Argentina, where grasslands cover nearly half of the territory, their role is structural: a relevant portion of livestock production is based on them. However, this importance contrasts with a conclusive fact: less than 4% of these environments are under some type of protection. This reality is also reflected at a global level, where although grasslands cover about 54% of the earths surface and host 33% of the critical points (hotspots) of global biodiversity, they have less than 10% effective protection (significantly lower than other biomes such as forests). The report, titled Identification and assessment of ecosystem services of the Pampas grasslands, is part of a project carried out by Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, in conjunction with WWF and financed by the International Climate Initiative (IKI), and allows the strategic value of grasslands to be dimensioned beyond their immediate productive role. In this sense, Sebastián Fermani, conservation director of Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina points out: Grasslands are often underestimated or considered marginal spaces, but they fulfill key functions for both natural systems and production, supporting fundamental environmental processes that directly impact the economy and quality of life. The report also warns that this productive base is under pressure. In recent decades, Argentina lost more than 3 million hectares of natural grasslands, mainly due to changes in land use, productive intensification and inadequate management of these ecosystems. This process not only negatively impacts biodiversity, but also compromises the sustainability of long-term productive systems and the quality of life of the communities. A horizon that seems to have no end, a space that at first glance seems empty, hides an almost invisible but vital economy for the country, clarifies Fermani. In regions such as the Depressed Pampas and the Submeridional Lowlands, this situation takes on an even more critical dimension. There, grasslands function as natural water regulators, absorbing surpluses and buffering floods. Their degradation, therefore, not only affects production but also increases vulnerability to increasingly frequent extreme climate events. At a global level, the value of these ecosystems reinforces this view: grasslands cover more than half of the Earths surface and store a significant portion of the planets carbon, which makes them key allies in the face of climate change, in addition to hosting great biodiversity. In this context, the conservation and sustainable management of grasslands acquire international relevance. Within the framework of the United Nations declaration, which established 2026 as the International Year of Grasslands and Pastoralists, an opportunity opens up to promote an agenda that prioritizes these ecosystems also at the national level. Sebastián Fermani emphasizes: That the United Nations has declared 2026 as the International Year of Grasslands and Pastoralists is a call for attention at a global level. In Argentina, where these ecosystems support productive systems and key environmental services, this declaration represents a strategic opportunity to recognize their value and move towards management models that integrate production and conservation. In this sense, the need to move towards management models that integrate sustainability criteria is raised, promoting practices that conserve the functionality of grasslands without separating them from their productive use. The evidence is clear: grasslands are a structural component of the productive system, key for production, the environment and food security. In addition, they are habitats of enormous biodiversity, with species that, in many cases, are typical of these ecosystems. Its conservation not only responds to an environmental agenda, but also becomes a necessary condition to sustain regional economies and guarantee production and exports in the long term. Sebastián Fermani states: It is important to recognize, value and sustainably manage these ecosystems, promoting practices that integrate production and conservation. And he concludes: The challenge is to make visible the hidden value of grasslands and move towards development models that consider their preservation as a strategic asset for the future.