At the northern end of the Mar Chiquita lagoon, the communities of Los Porongos, El Huaico, and Limache coexist across more than a million hectares of water, salt, and wildlife.\nAmong mud houses, migratory birds, and ancestral knowledge, a story of resilience, hospitality, and community conservation unfolds.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Natura Argentina implemented a social strengthening project based on the Dialogue of Knowledge.\nThis approach recognizes that both scientific knowledge and local ancestral wisdom are fundamental for effective conservation.\nThrough this community process, the residents of Los Porongos shared and valued the Living Knowledge that defines their relationship with the land, essential for survival and the sustainable management of resources.\nThus, we discovered that some knowledge is passed down from generation to generation, such as working with wool or the art of building mud homes, all in deep communion with the environment.<\/p>\n
Living knowledge is knowledge that is created and recreated in the present.\nIt arises from the encounter between everyday experience and collective memory, and it transforms with each practice, each landscape, and each conversation.\nAt Natura Argentina, we understand it as a bridge: a dialogue between local knowledge and science, where each perspective enriches the other and helps us better care for the territories we share.<\/p>\n
In this vast territory, the collection of rainwater in each home, taking into account the periods of abundance and scarcity of this vital resource, demonstrates an understanding of nature's rhythms, as well as its sustainable use and a reduced dependence on river water.<\/p>\n
Local fauna was recorded using camera traps, always placed with the families' permission.\nAmong the surprises was the pampas fox, a species not often seen.<\/p>\n
The guidance and support of the community, along with the technical expertise of the team and the censuses led by nature photographer and tourism technician Ramiro Ramirez, were key to obtaining the surprising result that 47% of the bird species recorded in Santiago del Estero can be observed in this area.<\/p>\n
In Los Porongos, the rural school is much more than a classroom.\nIt is the community's meeting point and, often, the place where everything happens.\nChildren of different ages share the classroom and daily life, and projects are built collaboratively.<\/p>\n
A collective mural inspired by the local wildlife and the nearby lagoon was created there.\nIt remains etched on one of the walls, serving as a reminder that the school is also part of the landscape.<\/p>\n
Working in this region is very challenging: the extreme heat, the salty wind, the lack of water at certain times of the year.\nBut upon arriving at each home, the families welcome the team with a kindness that dispels any difficulties.\nMate, conversation, grilled cakes, shared time: all of this builds a bond that facilitates the work and allows for a better understanding of life in a wetland like this.<\/p>\n
The work in Los Porongos is fundamental, since the Ba\u00f1ados del R\u00edo Dulce (Dulce River Wetlands) have critical conservation value by retaining and storing freshwater, essential for wildlife, human consumption, and production.\nFurthermore, the wetlands play an important and large-scale role in addressing global warming, climate change, and habitat degradation.<\/p>\n
t degradation.\nA process that continues to evolve. The work in Los Porongos doesn't end with a workshop or a trip.\nEach visit opens up new questions and new ways to collaborate.\nIn the same way that the wetlands hold water to sustain life, the community holds stories and knowledge that help us think about how to care for the territory in the future.<\/p>\n
This process is precisely that: a shared path, built little by little, with listening and respect.\nAnd as long as the dialogue remains open, conservation also has a future.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
En el extremo norte de la laguna Mar Chiquita, las comunidades de Los Porongos, El Huaico y Limache conviven en m\u00e1s de un mill\u00f3n de hect\u00e1reas.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comunidades"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":611,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions\/611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalezaargentina.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}