Urban expansion into native forests in Patagonia, Argentina: assessing stakeholders’ perceptions regarding spatial planning

Argentina’s Native Forests Protection Act No. 26,331 (NFPA) enforces the use of spatial planning to regulate land use in native forests. However, guidelines regarding the spatial planning of native forests in urban and wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas are lacking. Taking the city of Ushuaia as a case study, we used a mixed-methods approach (online survey, individual interviews, and focus groups) to assess stakeholders’ perceptions regarding native forest land use planning in urban and WUI areas. Results revealed that regulations addressing native forest land use in urban and WUI areas are lacking but considered important. Communication between stakeholders, public participatory processes, and current forest zoning criteria were identified as challenging aspects of native forest policy. Among the strategies to address these challenges, stakeholders emphasized developing: new opportunities for stakeholder communication, mechanisms for community engagement, specific guidelines for native forest land use planning in urban and WUI areas, and dissemination and education.