Paraguay has one of the highest deforestation rates in Latin America. It is the second most deforested country in the continent, after Brazil. Paraguay’s total forest area declined by 17% between 1990 and 2010, from approximately 21.2 million ha to 17.6 million ha. Forest cover in 2016 amounted to 38% of the country’s area, down from 47% in 2005, and 51% in 1995. The annual deforestation rate between 2005 and 2010 was estimated at 0.99%, higher than the South American average of 0.41%. Deforestation in Paraguay peaked in 2019 when 314,372 ha of forest were lost, compared to 258,779 ha lost in 2018.
Between 2017 and 2018, a change in land use of 255,312 ha was recorded in the Western Region. Of this figure, 76% corresponds to a change in forest cover authorized and framed within the current law, which means that some 194,037 hectares were legally cleared. The remaining 24% — about 61,275 ha — might have been lost to illegal logging but the lack of a forest cadastre makes it impossible to verify the rural properties’ boundaries. Forest cover in the Eastern Region has been reduced from 55% to about 16%, with remnant forested areas being discontinuous and highly fragmented.
Most deforestation has been concentrated in the Chaco, the second largest forest region in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most biodiverse places on the continent. Data from the National Forestry Institute (INFONA) show that the Paraguayan Chaco has 13,841,761 ha of forest, or approximately 56% of the total area. Forests in the Chaco have been drastically reduced and converted to pastures for large-scale cattle ranching and cropland to plant soybean. Deforestation in the Great Paraguayan Chaco (Western Region) peaked in 2019, when some 244,324 ha (about 78%) were lost.
The main direct causes of deforestation include expansion of agriculture and livestock ranching (mainly large farms for raising and fattening cattle), timber extraction, infrastructure expansion, and the use of fire to clear land. Institutional, political, and economic factors are indirect drivers.
The world’s sixth-largest producer of beef, Paraguay’s encouragement of meat exportation continues to drive deforestation in the Chaco and threatens a great number of indigenous communities living there, such as the Ayoreo, Qom, Sanapaná, and others including uncontacted and isolated tribes.
Key policies and governance approach
In 2004, Paraguay approved the Zero Deforestation Law, which forbids land use change in the Eastern Region and thus protect the remnants of Atlantic Forest — but excluding the Chaco. The Zero Deforestation Law was recently extended for ten years, leaving again the Western Region out. The Law on Valuation and Remuneration of Environmental Services was passed in 2006.
The Forestry Law mandates rural properties larger than 20 ha to keep 25% of the land as forest reserve, as a means of conserving biodiversity and environmental services. Beyond this, however, the law does not make any provisions to promote the sustainable use of forest resources and allows their legal conversion to other uses.
Paraguay participates in the UN-REDD Programme and Forest Carbon Partnership Facility.
SUCCESSES AND REMAINING CHALLENGES
Paraguay extended the Zero Deforestation Law in the Eastern Region for ten years, by which a 71% reduction in deforestation was expected (69,948 ha were deforested in 2019).
Initiatives and Development Plans
The Paraguay Forestry Project (Proyecto Paraguay Forestal), to be implemented by the National Forestry Institute (INFONA) with financial support (US$30 million) from the World Bank (WB), will help to improve the governance and management capacity of Paraguay's forestry sector by scaling up sustainable forestry approaches to the national level.
The Paraguay Forestry Project aims to reverse current trends that threaten Paraguay's long-term growth by improving: governance and effectiveness in the forestry sector; the weak business environment, notably poor access to credit and markets, and the absence of green certification in the forestry sector; and the limited knowledge and application of sustainable forestry approaches.
Various efforts have been carried out to restore ecosystems, combat desertification, rehabilitate degraded lands and soils, and strive to achieve land degradation neutrality. These include the Program for Compliance and Adaptation to Environmental Legislation (PAL), a legal instrument whose main objective is the reforestation and restoration of native forests (425 ha) in the BAAPA (Atlantic Forest of Alto Paraná) and reforestation of degraded areas under the responsibility of the Itaipu Binational Entity, totalling 5,425 ha. As of 2013, 3,351 ha had been reforested, and 2,074.5 ha were still to be covered.
Goals and Ambitions
Strategy 2.4 Valuing environmental capital of Paraguay’s National Development Plan aims to strengthen the country’s capacity to manage water, forests, and other natural resources; strengthen the forest inventory incorporating criteria for sustainable forest management; promote the sustainable management of forest ecosystems; and encourage reforestation activities aimed at reducing the loss and degradation of native forests, among other objectives.
Strategy 3.4 Sustainability of the global habitat aims to restore at least 20% of degraded ecosystems, increase national revenue through the sale of carbon credits, and increase the coverage of forest and protected areas.
The Paraguay Forestry Project (Proyecto Paraguay Forestal), to be implemented by the National Forestry Institute (INFONA) with financial support (US$30 million) from the World Bank (WB), will help to improve the governance and management capacity of Paraguay's forestry sector by scaling up sustainable forestry approaches to the national level.