The aim of the project is to promote the integration of forestry-industrial SMEs in Chaco into legal, deforestation-free supply chains, with the aim of improving the sector's competitiveness and facilitating its access to international markets. Within this framework, work will be done to ensure that private sector companies comply with sustainability standards and/or certifications, including FSC, PEFC, CITES, SICFOBA and National Law No. 26.331.

The importance of this lies in the fact that, historically, Argentina's forest regions, and particularly the Gran Chaco, were marked by the overexploitation of their natural resources. In the province of Chaco there are approximately 4.9 million hectares of native forest, on which hundreds of companies and their operators depend on these resources to produce and market their native forest timber products internally and externally. Sustainability is therefore essential, especially in order to comply with the new environmental sustainability requirements of international markets, mainly as a result of the European Green Pact.

This poses challenges for companies, which must demonstrate traceability throughout the supply chain. While forestry companies in the Chaco are required to have harvesting and movement permits issued by the provincial authority, traceability processes are not easily verifiable by external entities. In response, the provincial management is currently developing the MVP (minimum viable product) of a traceability scheme using blockchain technology. 

This project seeks to strengthen this digital solution with blockchain applied for the traceability of the Chaco forestry-industrial value chain, with a view to facilitating certifications (FSC, PEFC, CITES) and compliance with EU due diligence. This development will be accompanied by technical assistance to SMEs and will be carried out in the province of Chaco, Argentina, as a pilot experience that can then be replicated in other provinces of the country. It is expected to promote the competitiveness and export potential of SMEs in the forestry-industrial value chain through technological innovation and greater digitisation of their traceability processes, and the implementation of production practices aligned with international standards in the context of the global climate agenda. 

The final beneficiaries are forestry and forestry-industrial companies in the private sector in Chaco, local communities and workers in the chain, and the provincial public sector. The first group is mainly composed of forestry producers engaged in the sustainable use of timber resources from the native forests of Chaco, charcoal-producing SMEs, tannin-producing companies and sawmills and carpentries that mainly work with wood from native forests for the production of furniture and openings. The second group are the local communities close to forestry activities and the workers in the sector who are indirect beneficiaries of the action. Finally, the provincial public sector, particularly the provincial government of Chaco since it plays a fundamental role in the promotion and regulation of forestry activities, and since this project will strengthen its capacity to manage and regulate forestry activities.