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Cases / Law, regulation and treaties · Paraguay · 2004

Earthsight: eastern Paraguay forest loss fell as Chaco clearing rose

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 5 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

Earthsight reported that Paraguay's 2004 zero-deforestation law was followed by a steep fall in forest loss in the east, while clearing rose in the Gran Chaco. The Chaco losses and the impact on the Ayoreo people are at stake for nature and for an Indigenous group.

What?
Earthsight reported that forest loss in eastern Paraguay fell after the 2004 zero-deforestation law, while clearing rose in the Gran Chaco. Earthsight
Where?
Eastern region and Gran Chaco, Paraguay Earthsight
When?
Earthsight figures cover 2003 to 2007. Earthsight
Who?
Gained
  • Farmers — Sold eastern land and bought cheaper Chaco land, according to Earthsight Earthsight
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • Isolated Ayoreo people — A group was forced into contact by bulldozers in 2004, according to Earthsight Earthsight
  • Gran Chaco forest — About 107,000 hectares cleared in 2006 and about 320,000 hectares in 2007, according to Earthsight Earthsight
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Farmers sold eastern land and bought Chaco land, and clearing followed in the Chaco, according to Earthsight. Earthsight
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Earthsight reported that deforestation in eastern Paraguay fell by 65% over two years and by about 95% over five years.

Earthsight reported that the law did not cover the western Gran Chaco, where about 107,000 hectares were cleared in 2006 and about 320,000 hectares in 2007.

Earthsight reported that farmers sold expensive eastern land and bought cheaper Chaco land, and that beef exports rose from 36,000 tonnes in 2003 to 170,000 tonnes in 2006.

Earthsight reported that Brazilian companies cleared ancestral lands of the isolated Ayoreo people, and that in 2004 bulldozers forced one Ayoreo group into contact.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: Law 2524 was adopted on 13 December 2004 and extended several times, most recently to 2030.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: WWF Paraguay said the eastern region had 2 million hectares left of an original 9 million; other sources give 7% to 15% of the Atlantic Forest remaining.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: a similar law proposed for the Chaco in 2009 was not passed.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: a 2017 decree (No. 7702/17) was reported to allow a landowner to clear a whole forest, and clearing rose afterwards, according to Earthsight.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: the Senate extended the eastern law by ten years in 2020, with the Chaco excluded.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    1. Diario Libre
      Diario Libre · 2020

    Communities and civil society

    1. Ill-Gotten Lands
      Earthsight · 2016
    2. Earthsight
      Earthsight ·

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Science and environment

    Hectare (ha)
    A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.
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