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 GroatecGroasis. 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/premiomexico.