Sequí­as en el sudoeste bonaerense : Vulnerabilidad e incertidumbre

Abstract

Droughts are characterized by having a cyclical behavior, which allows to somehow foresee the probability of their occurrence. However, in the southwest of the Province of Buenos Aires, preventive measures to mitigate its effects on agricultural activities are insufficient. The Agricultural Emergency Law (LEA) sees droughts as a purely meteorological phenomenon, while our approach sees it as a product of social vulnerability, which is a consequence of deficient management and lack of foresight on the part of the agricultural producers affected by it. This presentation comprises the spatial cutting of the counties which make up the Development Plan of south-western Buenos Aires and the temporal frame included within the 2001-2006 period, due to the important occurrences of droughts. Droughts need not be considered as catastrophes, but rather as a 'social construction of risks' (Garcí­a Acosta, 2005; Lavell, 2000), which is a result of lack of foresight and uncertainty.