[en] The area studied in this work comprises the catchment of the "Arroyo Feliciano", which is the second largest catchment within the Entre Ríos Province with a surface of 8199 km2. This region has an increasing demand for water resources due to the increasing agricultural use, and is also characterized by a sudden change in soil use from extensive cattle raising under native forest to rice and soybean intensive cropping. Most of the aquifers found in this area have a low physical-chemical aptitude and this is the cause of various disadvantages for the rural population and disturbances in its activities. It has been well established that an individual catchment either independently or in connection with other catchments is the most accepted territorial unit for integrating management of water resources and native forests. Policies for land uses within a catchment as a basis for water resources and forest focussed on various different subjects and showed unequal evolution in Latin-American and Caribbean countries. In spite of these obstacles, there is a generalized interest in building and develop catchment organisms to improve integrated management of water and forest resources. This subject has bring about increasing interest during recent years, because several countries in this region are trying to obtain targets related to integrated management of water resources, native forest and sustainable development. We developed a SIG, which should contribute to decision making on resource management and contingency by the involved authority. Planning of catchment water balance was achieved taking into account all the variables of hydrologic relevance within a SIG, which should allow establishing a platform for decision making on water and natural resources policy. Moreover, it was possible to characterize the physical aspect of the catchment and to describe climate, geomorphology, vegetation, soil, soil use, surface and subsurface water quality, etc. Catchment water resources were characterized on the basis of its physicochemical and bacteriological aptitude for irrigation, animal consumption and a human use. Because de soils of the catchment exhibits vertic properties, they showed several main limitations for agricultural use. Soil losses by erosion were lower than a 0.5 Tm/ha/year at 92% of the catchment surface, which was explained by predominance of native forest as vegetal cover. For this catchment virtual water exportation was at about 1. 94 x 109 m3/year, which means 28.5% of the total virtual water of the Entre Ríos Province. Severe native forest clearing occurred too long in this catchment in such a way that mostly forest is substituted by agriculture. The present-day surface of the forest was actualized, both a digital no supervised and supervised classifications were made and the FAO classification proposal (document FRA 2000) was used after adaptation to local characteristics and particularities, in dealing with stratification of the soil cover. The total surface of native forest was 533.820,328 ha during 2003 and 519.695,983 ha during 2006. Our work allowed actualization of the forest survey, which will provide information to assess the effect of agriculturization and environmental impacts on the native forests of this catchment. The rural population is rather disperse and there are a number of poor and modest households, low quality of building, bad planning of the functional spaces for particular activities; also there is a big contrasts between small localities, villages and sites with a lower population density and with higher economical backward and sites of higher development. Regarding infrastructure, rural road are impassable during long periods over the year, the rural electrification network does not reach many areas within the catchment, the water distribution networks are not finished and operative in several sites and villages, the sanitary system has a low surface cover and provide bad services to the rural population, the rural schools are bad equipped and community spaces and recreation areas are absents, roads are not prepared for supporting heavy transit and transportation means are deficient. Starting from this reality, it was possible to elaborate a methodology for integrated and sustainable management of the water and natural resources of the Arroyo Feliciano and the results of our work showed that increasing intensive agriculture has been based in the occupation of natural surfaces before devoted to natural forests and that this occupation caused severe impacts.

[gl] A área de estudo comprende a conca do "Arroyo Feliciano", a segunda en extensión da Provincia de Entre Ríos, con 8199 km2. Conta cunha demanda crecente dos seus recursos hídricos pola intensa agriculturización, con cambio repentino no uso do solo, pasando dunha gandaría extensiva e baixo bosque natural, a plantacións de arroz e soia. Os acuíferos presentes en case a totalidade da súa superficie son de baixa aptitude físico-química, o que xera inconvenientes á poboación rural e ás súas actividades. Sábese que a conca, sexa en forma independente ou interconectada con outras, é a unidade territorial máis aceptada para a xestión integrada dos recursos hídricos e dos bosques nativos. As políticas para utilizar o territorio dunha conca como base para a xestión da auga e os bosques tiveron diferentes enfoques e unha desigual evolución nos países de América Latina e o Caribe. A pesar dos obstáculos existentes, obsérvase un interese xeneralizado por crear e operar organismos de conca para mellorar a xestión integrada da auga e os bosques. O tema recobrou vixencia recentemente, debido a que os países da rexión están a tratar de lograr metas de xestión integrada dos recursos hídricos, naturais e de desenvolvemento sostible. Logrouse deseñar un SIG que permitirá contribuír á toma de decisións na xestión dos recursos e continxencias, por parte das autoridades de aplicación. Logrouse formular o balance hídrico, confeccionando o SIG baseado no mapeo das variables de relevancia hidrolóxica, que permitirá establecer a plataforma para a toma de decisión de políticas dos recursos hídricos e naturais. Logrouse caracterizar o aspecto físico da conca, describiuse o clima, xeoloxía, xeomorfoloxía, vexetación, os seus solos e usos, calidades das augas superficiais e subterráneas, entre outros. Caracterizáronse, pola súa aptitude fisicoquímica e bacteriolóxica, os recursos hídricos da conca para o seu destino a regadío, consumo animal e humano. Debido ao dominio das características vérticas dos solos, na conca encontramos solos con marcadas limitacións para o uso agrícola. No 92% da superficie da conca as perdas por erosión son menores a 0,5 Mg/ha/ano, explicado polo predominio do bosque nativo como cobertura vexetal. O valor de auga virtual exportada, para o caso da conca, é de 1,94 x 109 m3/ano o que representa un 28,5% do total de auga virtual da Provincia de Entre Ríos. Esta conca vén sufrindo, dende hai moito tempo, severas tallas de bosques nativos, os cales van sendo substituídos na súa maior parte por agricultura. Actualizouse a superficie de bosques, fíxose clasificación dixital non supervisada e clasificación supervisada, na estratificación de cobertura do solo, utilizouse a clasificación proposta por FAO (documento FRA 2000-2005), con adecuación ás características e particularidades locais. Confeccionáronse mapas temáticos presentando o avance da agricultura en detrimento do bosque nativo. No 2003 contábase cunha superficie total de bosques nativos de 533.820,328 ha; e no 2006 519.695,983 ha. Con este traballo logrouse actualizar o inventario forestal, o cal permitirá contar con información para avaliar o efecto da agriculturización e de impacto ambiental, sobre os bosques nativos da conca. Na poboación rural dispersa existen unha grande cantidade de vivendas precarias de baixa calidade de construción, mala disposición de espazos funcionais para cada actividade, pequenas localidades, pobos e paraxes de menor densidade de poboación e economicamente máis atrasadas con localidades de maior desenvolvemento. En infraestrutura obsérvase unha rede de camiños rurais en malas condicións, intransitables durante grandes períodos do ano, rede de electrificación rural que non atende a moitas zonas da conca; redes de distribución de auga en paraxes e pobos con obras inconclusas; deficiente prestación dos servizos de saúde á poboación rural por baixa cobertura territorial; escolas rurais en malas condicións edilicias e de equipamento; ausencia de espazos comunitarios e recreativos; deficiencia nos medios de transporte terrestre e os camiños non están preparados para soportar tránsito pesado. Foi posible elaborar unha metodoloxía para a xestión integrada e manexo sostible dos recursos hídricos e naturais da conca do "Arroyo Feliciano", e demostrouse, en función dos resultados deste traballo, que o avance da agricultura extensiva se baseou na ocupación dos espazos naturais antes ocupados por bosques nativos, e que tivo impacto nestes.