In recent decades, Argentinean agriculture, especially in the Pampas ecoregion, has undergone a remarkable expansion based on technological development. This process allows increasing productivity but it increases costs in terms of loss of environmental services. This paper aims at analyzing the loss of some support and regulation services in the period 2002-2011, in a representative area of the ecoregion: Azul County. In order to conduct such analysis, two sustainability indicators were used: quality conservation of soil and water (QCSW) and biodiversity conservation (BC). Land use changes by processing and classifying satellite images, interviews, and field campaigns were previously analyzed. The results indicate an intensification and expansion of agriculture (13.79%) to the detriment of livestock (-5.24%) and of the surface covered with water in 2002. These changes are reflected in the loss of environmental services and result in the estimation of the indicators: QCSW indicator decreased by 33.8% and BC by 16.03% . Thus, it is a priority to generate agroproductive strategies contemplating that services provided by ecosystems are essential for the maintenance of the County and the region.
agriculturization; remote sensing; sustainability indicators; conservation of natural resources
