Ecology
Ecological imbalance has many origins: on the one hand, the world population increase and the consequent need for food; on the other hand, the exploding urbanization, which generates marginal areas and uprooting; and finally, the speed of technological advances and economic globalization. All of them are international issues. Unfortunately, the results: desert encroachment, acid rain, the ozone hole, pollution, soil and water contamination, depletion of natural resource, structural poverty, etc. are patrimony of the whole planet. Before this situation, the Subsecretariat of Ecology is working in many aspects:
• Application of the in force law as regards environmental aspects
• To promote the utilization of suitable technologies allowing sustainable development
• Boost the interchange and spread of information
• To promote training and to generate spaces for communitary reflection
• To strengthen the proposal of an environmental culture and the extremely importance of environmental education.
• To discuss issues with critic spirit, by promoting direct measures with all the sectors, for the protection, conservation and defense of the environment.
• To guard with great zeal the natural patrimony of the province, paying attention to the ecological environment, the correct utilization of resources and the preservation of the biodiversity.

Education
• The new structure of the educational system of La Pampa: the Federal Law of Education was enacted in 1993, and in 1995 it was implemented a new educational system supported by that law. The application of a compulsory ten-year program of studies introduced the idea of a gradual and phasing-out change in La Pampa. Thus, in 1996 it began the first stage of the primary education (EGB) and in 1999, the third stage was accomplished by the implementation of the ninth year. As regards the Initial Level, La Pampa has already been implementing it since 1986.
The Nucleated Kindergarten system (JIN), with 23 institutes, improved the educational quality through family participation. In 1999, the enrollment of the Initial Level amounted to 6,057 pupils. Perhaps the most important aspect of this undertaking is the massive aspect of its implementation. Each provincial school and each pampean pupil is part of this process, which really makes a difference when considering that in other jurisdictions of the country the changes are been partially implemented.
A new and important process of analysis and consulting was carried at the subsequent stages to review their conditions. This required the organization of meetings that nucleated pampean locations. There was a major reason for that: to define the localization of the Third Stage in each location. Therefore, the educational policy for the Third Stage was defined by bearing in mind the flexibility criteria of the meeting results.

• Third Stage. The pampean implementation model: the decision made on 1997 to conduct and materialize the implementation of the Third Stage was questioned by teachers, who requested an additional year for its application. But the pampean government considered that in an increasingly difficult and changing world, the delay would become a waste of time that the children might claim in the future. In 1999, the compulsory program for primary education was accomplished through the implementation of the ninth year of EGB. This meant the consolidation of the new compulsory structure of the educational system.
The results of the last National Operation for Education Quality placed La Pampa Province in the third position in Mathematics and Language for pupils at Third Stage of EGB.
Besides, during year 2000, it will start the Third Stage of EGB for adults. Although there is no national regulation to this respect, La Pampa Province accepts the challenge to extend the primary education, which was until now completed at the seventh year. Pursuant to Federal Education Law, from now on, adults will accomplish their primary education program with the ninth year.

• Year 2000. “Polymodal” Stage, a new challenge: as from 2000, the Polymodal Stage has been massively implemented as targeted. This stage proposes a new concept in non-compulsory education. Polymodal Stage provides the same educational and social program for each student attending it. With just one approach, it encompasses ethical and citizenship matters, continuous education, and the training for a productive life.
Each institution offering the Polymodal Stage has some of programs proposed in the Federal Education Law:

- Natural Sciences
- Economy and Business Administration
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- Commodity Production and Services
- Communication, Arts and Design

Furthermore, there are several schools for those adults wanting to complete the former intermediate level (high school).

• Tertiary Level: Teachers’ Training Institutes: by Resolution Nº 931, enacted by the National Ministry of Education and Culture, the degrees awarded for Teachers’ Training programs conducted in Teachers’ Training Institutes are officially valid. The approval decision comprises La Pampa Province, which starts year 2000 implementing this new regulation. Institutes offering theachers’ programs comprised in the new framework of the educational system are the result of a detailed and deliberated work, whose process goes back to 1996. Today, La Pampa has five nationally-acknowledged programs: EGB Teacher for the 1st and 2nd stage, Psychology Teacher for EGB3 and Polymodal, Political Sciences Teacher for EGB3, Visual Arts Teacher, and Physical Education Teacher for any level and program of the system.

• Upper Level: the University of La Pampa is the academic center that concentrates the University Education of La Pampa. It has colleges at Santa Rosa, General Pico, Eduardo Castex, and General Acha. The Ministry of Culture and Education of La Pampa has maintained a fluent dialog with the authorities of the University of La Pampa, oriented towards the implementation of the educational transformation process in the province and the country, which also included the important contributions that the University can make to develop such process.

• La Pampa, 3rd in the National Operation for the Evaluation of Educational Quality - ONE 99.
One of the paramount aspects in the educational transformation process is the implementation of an evaluative culture, which implies the utilization of evaluation as a tool inherent to the learning service. This criterium, which must be as gradual as any process of change, was introduced in La Pampa as the component that supports the new educational and pedagogical conceptions of educational transformation. By means of a permanent process of evaluation we can find the best strategies to ensure all students the learning opportunities they need.
The results obtained by the pampean students in the last National Operation for the Evaluation of Educational Quality (ONE 99), which show them placed in third position of the national grid, indicate and weight teachers’ performance, and reflect the commitment displayed by every player taking part in the transformation process. It also reinforces the commitment to improve the quality of education.
As per the results achieved in mathematics and language, la Pampa is placed third among the best provinces for pupils attending the seventh year. And it should be born in mind that these results are obtained in a province whose educational services are mainly public -more than 90 %. Besides, these results were achieved in the stage showing the most serious difficulties.

October 16: La Pampa’s Day

October 16 was established as La Pampa's Day through an Executive Order-Agreement executed by the de facto government of the vice-admiral Guozden, according to "the initiative of the Center of Pampean Residents of Buenos Aires city." In section 2, the executive order sets forth that "the educational, cultural and diffusional institutions of the Province shall organize the corresponding festivities in due time". Section 3 says that "educational institutions shall hold classes on History, Geography and other aspects of the pampean reality during five working days prior to said date, and shall conduct an allusive ceremony in the last class hour on day 16." Regarding non-educational ceremonies to be performed, "they shall be held on the subsequent Sunday."

Pampean Fauna

The Fauna of La Pampa Province has lately become a non-conventional alternative to develop its economy, by either hunting, breeding or including wild species to the stockbreeding-like exploitation.
Present operation: a) Commercial hunting: European hare. Total use of fur, meat and skin. At present it is the most important industry related to the wild fauna, because of the labor hired, the electric power consumed and the input utilized from hunting to export. Gray foxes are also hunted for commercial purposes. b) Big hunting game: it comprises Red deers, Wild boars and Pumas. Antelops, Ciervos dama (“Lady deers”) and Axis deers, which can only be hunted in authorized game reserves. c) Small hunting game. The following special species may be hunted limited to seasons and number of specimens: Grey fox, Small partridge and Perdiz del monte (partridge from the forest), Viscachas, Armadillo, European hare, Paloma montera (dove from the forest), Ringdove, Turkish dove, Duck, Loro Barranquero (parrot from ravines) and Budgerigar. d) Non-traditional production: 1) Red deer Breeding: there are nine breeding farms in the departments of Toay, Utracán, Catriló and Guatraché. 2) Entry and spreading of South American Domestic Camelids: the Ministry of Production and C.F.I. started up this undertaking at the Experimental Base located in Santa Isabel, by entering 105 white selected llamas coming from Jujuy Province. After overcoming the adaptation period, the breeding of these species has become extensive as they spread. At present, new by-products are manufactured. 3) Rhea breeding farms: there are four plants oriented to the production of meat, skin and feathers and other by-products. 4) Chinchilla breeding farms: there are ten registered farms, and the production is increasingly growing. 5) Some breeding farms for wild boars and red partridges are being established.
There is also a campaign for the conservation of wild fauna species through: A) Programs, oriented and/or aided by the Agriculture Administration, which encompass: 1) Fast assessment of European hare’s number of specimens. 2) Pampean carnivores population Monitoring. B) Conservation: Promotion and Education.

Pampean Flora

About 70% of the pampean surface is covered by natural vegetation, and the remaining 30% corresponds to crop areas (annual and perennial). Pampean vegetation can be classified in four main physiognomic types: 1. Open caduceus wood of "Caldén (Prosopis caldenia)", 2. Natural pastureland, 3. Bushland and 4. Underbushland.

• The most characteristic woody species:
Caldén (prosopis Caldenia): is the main forestal resource of the Province. At present, the caldén wood surface can be estimated in 2,870,000 ha, and the useful surface amounts to 750,000 ha. Traditional uses of caldén wood comprise firewood, posts, sticks, long rods, timbers, coal, boards for: floors (paving blocks, parquets, setts), furniture (rustic, kitchen furniture, fine furniture), frames and trims of doors, windows, louvers, thresholds, lintels, beehives, etc. The industrial characteristics of this wood are:
• Medium core durability against biological agents
• Easy to dry
• Easy to be painted
• Easy to be nailed
• Slightly hard to be worked with
• Very good planishing acceptance
• Very good polishing acceptance
• Turning acceptance
• Very good dimensional stability (one of the first ranked, within domestic woods)
• Very good hygroscopicity
As regards combustible value, the "leña campana" (dried firewood) of caldén has a calorific power between 3,900 and 4,200 kcal/kg (higher than red bark). Caldén coal has a calorific power of 7,458 kcal/kg.
Carob tree (Prosopis flexuosa): it is distributed together with caldén, with which it is often confounded, and exclusively in the north portion of the margins of the Atuel-Salado-Chadileuvú fluvial system. It was utilized for furniture, artisanship, firewood, posts, props and rods.
Piquillín (Condalia microphylia): although it is mostly encountered in the caduceus wood, it is also distributed in the central and southeastern bushland. It is chiefly used as firewood, which is much valued due to its calorific power. The fruits are utilized to make home jam (called in some places syrup) and the wood is used in turning.
The pampean flora is very rich. We should mention aromatic species like “cedrón del monte” or herb of gilead and thyme, or medicinal plants like the té pampa (pampa tea).

Provincial Geography

Location: La Pampa has a mediterranean position. Limits: • North: at a latitude of 32º N (between the meridians of 63º 23' and 65º 07' W) • South: Tripartite point shared with Buenos Aires and Río Negro • East: at a longitude of 63º 23' W (between parallels of 35º and 39º 11' S) • West: at a longitude of 68º 17' E (between parallels of 36º and 36º 11' S). Climate: temperate and semiarid. The northeastern area shows the best levels of precipitation, plus good soils and mild temperatures. Going eastward and southwards, precipitation decreases and soil quality impoverishes. Environmental conditions worsen in the West end.

Landforms: it should be mentioned that La Pampa province is not a geological morphological, hydrological or climatic unit. It shares different regions that belong to other provinces too. We can distinguish four physiographic regions:
1) Sierras
2) Plateaux
3) Plains
4) Valleys.

Population

According to the census of May 15, 1991, La Pampa's population was 260,034 inhabitants. This figure represents 0.8% of Argentina's total. (at present, there are 300,000 inhabitants approx.).
In absolute values, in 1991 La Pampa's population was higher than those of La Rioja, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego e Islas del Atlántico Sur provinces. Between 1935/1991, the population of La Pampa grew 48.52%. It can be observed a strong growth in population during the first three decades of the twentieth century. This trend varied during the intercensus period"1935/1947". The maximum peak of depression occurred in 1960 (year of least population). This process reverted in the intercensus period 1960/1970, in which it can be observed a sustained increase.

Spatial distribution of population: The most populated districts are Capital in the first place with 30.9 inhab/km2 and Maracó in the second place with 17.30 inhab/km2. The least populated districts are Lihuel Calel with 0.05 inhab/km2, Chicalcó, Limay Mahuida, and Curacó with 0.1 inhab/km2. The most expulsive districts are Limay Mahuida and Lihuel Calel, for the period 1980/1991 (this proportion decreased in said districts with respect to 1980). The greatest growth is shown in Capital, Maracó and Chapaleufú.

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