La forestación fue el remedio, la erosión la excusa: suelos erosionados y forestación en la región del Maule, 1965-2015

Abstract

The erosion history in Chile is closely linked to the history of afforestation. All afforestation policies implemented since the 1940s had as their justification and fundamental aim in the recovery of degraded soils. As a result of these policies, more than four million hectares were afforested with fast-growing exotic species. The official history of that process underscores that afforestation was the remedy for erosion. The question asking by this paper is whether or not this declared aim of public policy has been met. Were those soils that, because they were eroded, needed to be afforested, in fact? To answer this question, a spatial superposition analysis of both phenomena is made, based on historical cartography and recognition of land cover of the area corresponding to the former Provincia del Maule (Chile). Our results suggest that the 'afforestation criterion' was a category that suffered misrepresentations and that, despite this, afforestation far exceeded the need for afforestation that was calculated in the 1960s and 70s. This calls into question that afforestation was intended to protect the eroded soils of our country and suggests that, rather, it was an excuse.