https://news.mongabay.com/list/paraguay/ Environmental science and conservation news Sat, 06 Jun 2026 14:52:23 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png https://news.mongabay.com/list/paraguay/ 32 32 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/ https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/#respond 12 May 2026 17:53:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319235 - Its goal is to protect the big cat and other threatened species, rewild native wildlife, and protect land throughout the basin, a biodiversity hotspot shared by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.
- Many rivers form the borders between the four countries, and by collaborating on protections, the initiative seeks to reconnect fragmented habitat, using rivers and riparian forests to rebuild wildlife corridors.
- By 2030, the initiative plans to protect at least 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of land in these countries, preserving approximately 34 million metric tons of carbon at risk of being released through deforestation, fire and land-use change.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/paraguay-expanded-a-reserve-in-the-gran-chaco-why-is-deforestation-still-rising-there/ https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/paraguay-expanded-a-reserve-in-the-gran-chaco-why-is-deforestation-still-rising-there/#respond 08 May 2026 16:59:32 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318947 - Regulations are only selectively enforced by the government, if not entirely ignored, critics say.
- Property owners often exceed how much native vegetation they can legally clear on their land to make room for cattle pasture and agriculture.
- As the forest shrinks, Indigenous Ayoreo-Totobiegosode living in that part of the reserve have struggled to maintain voluntary isolation; they rely on the forest for food, shelter and medicine, and don’t have immunity to many outside diseases.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/paraguay-expanded-a-reserve-in-the-gran-chaco-why-is-deforestation-still-rising-there/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/jose-zanardini-the-priest-who-tried-to-reconcile-faith-and-indigenous-autonomy/ https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/jose-zanardini-the-priest-who-tried-to-reconcile-faith-and-indigenous-autonomy/#respond 26 Jan 2026 00:59:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313292 - Father José (Giuseppe) Zanardini, an Italian-born Salesian priest and anthropologist, arrived in Paraguay in 1978 and spent decades working among Indigenous peoples, particularly the Ayoreo of the Gran Chaco.
- He combined pastoral work with scholarship and education initiatives, including support for Indigenous schooling and documentation of language and culture, while advocating for a more open church approach to Indigenous spirituality.
- His story sits uneasily within a wider history of mission-driven disruption and abuse, raising the enduring question of whether a single life of listening can meaningfully offset the institutions that sent him
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/jose-zanardini-the-priest-who-tried-to-reconcile-faith-and-indigenous-autonomy/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/07/pasture-and-agricultural-expansion-in-gran-chaco-drive-biodiversity-loss-study/ https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/07/pasture-and-agricultural-expansion-in-gran-chaco-drive-biodiversity-loss-study/#respond 23 Jul 2025 09:10:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&p=303010 Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/07/pasture-and-agricultural-expansion-in-gran-chaco-drive-biodiversity-loss-study/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-delegates-at-the-u-n-raise-alarm-on-voluntary-isolated-peoples/ https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-delegates-at-the-u-n-raise-alarm-on-voluntary-isolated-peoples/#respond 25 Apr 2025 15:52:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298208 - Isolated peoples are affected by the exploitation of natural resources in their territories, drug trafficking, logging, and other illegal economies.
- Indigenous peoples and organizations at the forum urged states to adopt a territorial corridors initiative and to implement policies, standards and cross-border mechanisms to secure their territories and rights.
- There are 188 records of isolated Indigenous peoples in South America, however national governments officially recognize 60.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-delegates-at-the-u-n-raise-alarm-on-voluntary-isolated-peoples/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uncontacted-ayoreo-could-face-health-risks-as-gran-chaco-shrinks-experts-warn/ https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uncontacted-ayoreo-could-face-health-risks-as-gran-chaco-shrinks-experts-warn/#respond 21 Mar 2025 18:32:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296288 - The Ayoreo live semi-nomadically between the Paraguayan and Bolivian Gran Chaco, where they’re threatened by deforestation from the expanding agricultural frontier.
- GTI-PIACI called on the Paraguayan government and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to develop more thorough measures to protect the groups and stop deforestation.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uncontacted-ayoreo-could-face-health-risks-as-gran-chaco-shrinks-experts-warn/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-indigenous-pai-tavytera-communities-fight-invaders-fires-and-drought/ https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-indigenous-pai-tavytera-communities-fight-invaders-fires-and-drought/#respond 28 Nov 2024 18:00:50 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290839 - The region has been greatly affected by climate change, which has caused cycles of floods, droughts and deadly wildfires that destroy people’s homes and food gardens.
- With little protection from the state, the Paĩ have had to build fences to keep invaders out and have enrolled in firefighting courses to learn how to combat fires more effectively.
- Residents also participate in agroforestry workshops where they exchange ancestral knowledge and learn how to restore native plants and forests.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-indigenous-pai-tavytera-communities-fight-invaders-fires-and-drought/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-pumas-adapt-with-some-help-to-a-ranch-filled-landscape/ https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-pumas-adapt-with-some-help-to-a-ranch-filled-landscape/#respond 08 Nov 2024 10:02:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289873 - Paved roads, habitat fragmentation due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier, poaching, and conflicts over livestock predation are the main threats to the area’s big cats.
- Regulations for achieving sustainable development in the region include a requirement to maintain more than 25% of native forests across each farm, and stiff fines for noncompliance.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-pumas-adapt-with-some-help-to-a-ranch-filled-landscape/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/impacts-and-legacies-of-migration-across-the-pan-amazon/ https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/impacts-and-legacies-of-migration-across-the-pan-amazon/#respond 24 Oct 2024 09:15:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289119 - Jesuits settled in remote places and border areas after being invited by colonial authorities interested in taking advantage of the native population’s labor force. But their arrival triggered the collapse of the Indigenous populations of the Western Amazon. Only in the late 17th century, more than 140,000 people died because of diseases brought by the outsiders.
- The success of the Jesuits and the religious colonialism that characterized the Catholic Church in the 17th century motivated other religious orders to follow similar missionary programs.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/impacts-and-legacies-of-migration-across-the-pan-amazon/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/collagen-and-cattle-fuel-deforestation-and-rights-violations-in-paraguay-says-new-report/ https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/collagen-and-cattle-fuel-deforestation-and-rights-violations-in-paraguay-says-new-report/#respond 09 Oct 2024 15:40:55 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288419 - This deforestation puts Indigenous territories at risk, they say. About 18,000 hectares (44,000 acres) of deforestation – an area larger than Paris – occurred on the lands of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode, a partially uncontacted Indigenous group, threatening their cultural survival.
- Global collagen manufacturer Rousselot has sourced over 3,000 tonnes of cattle hides from farms linked to deforestation. International retailers such as Amazon and Costco sell products containing Rousselot’s collagen.
- Environmentalists say a proposed delay to the EU’s landmark anti-deforestation regulation could prolong environmental damage in regions like the Gran Chaco.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/collagen-and-cattle-fuel-deforestation-and-rights-violations-in-paraguay-says-new-report/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/smallest-wildcat-of-the-atlantic-forest-faces-enormous-threats/ https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/smallest-wildcat-of-the-atlantic-forest-faces-enormous-threats/#respond 27 Feb 2024 11:20:36 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279221 - Its distribution is limited to the Atlantic Forest, in areas bordering Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina and part of Bolivia; the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the southern tiger cat as vulnerable, but in Paraguay its situation is more critical, where it is endangered.
- Little is known about its population size and behavior — in fact, little is known about the species at all; just 10 years ago, it was still considered a subspecies of the oncilla (L. tigrinus).
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/smallest-wildcat-of-the-atlantic-forest-faces-enormous-threats/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/new-paraguay-law-aims-to-improve-carbon-credit-market/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/new-paraguay-law-aims-to-improve-carbon-credit-market/#respond 20 Oct 2023 08:00:40 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274433 - The law creates a registry for carbon credit projects and ensures land isn’t being assigned more than once.
- The Gran Chaco, South America’s second-largest forest, has been of particular interest to the carbon credit market, as there are concerns about deforestation in the area.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/new-paraguay-law-aims-to-improve-carbon-credit-market/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-railroad-development/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-railroad-development/#respond 21 Sep 2023 20:44:23 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273454 - Author Timothy J. Killeen is an academic and expert who, since the 1980s, has studied the rainforests of Brazil and Bolivia, where he lived for more than 35 years.
- Chronicling the efforts of nine Amazonian countries to curb deforestation, this edition provides an overview of the topics most relevant to the conservation of the region’s biodiversity, ecosystem services and Indigenous cultures, as well as a description of the conventional and sustainable development models that are vying for space within the regional economy.
- Click the “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon” link atop this page to see chapters 1-13 as they are published during 2023.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-railroad-development/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-waterway-options/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-waterway-options/#respond 20 Sep 2023 16:40:31 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273441 - Author Timothy J. Killeen is an academic and expert who, since the 1980s, has studied the rainforests of Brazil and Bolivia, where he lived for more than 35 years.
- Chronicling the efforts of nine Amazonian countries to curb deforestation, this edition provides an overview of the topics most relevant to the conservation of the region’s biodiversity, ecosystem services and Indigenous cultures, as well as a description of the conventional and sustainable development models that are vying for space within the regional economy.
- Click the “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon” link atop this page to see chapters 1-13 as they are published during 2023.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-waterway-options/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/expanding-agriculture-could-worsen-flooding-in-south-american-plains-study-says/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/expanding-agriculture-could-worsen-flooding-in-south-american-plains-study-says/#respond 18 Jul 2023 17:47:07 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271090 - A new study published last month in Science found that agriculture is exacerbating flooding in the region, which could disrupt food supplies and prices in the future.
- The study said dedicating more space to deeper-rooted forests and developing crop rotations with more flexible water table depths could stave off disaster.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/expanding-agriculture-could-worsen-flooding-in-south-american-plains-study-says/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/a-mega-highway-threatens-south-americas-vulnerable-gran-chaco/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/a-mega-highway-threatens-south-americas-vulnerable-gran-chaco/#respond 08 Jun 2023 09:00:24 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269513 - The highway crosses the Gran Chaco, one of the world’s most threatened biomes, which has already lost a fifth of its forest since 1985 due to agricultural expansion.
- Conservationists warn that the highway will lead to a surge in deforestation and an increase in the number of vehicle collisions, putting both people and wildlife at risk.
- Mitigating the environmental and social risks associated with the highway requires stronger political will and more robust implementation of protective regulations, experts say.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/a-mega-highway-threatens-south-americas-vulnerable-gran-chaco/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/report-links-financial-giants-to-deforestation-of-paraguays-gran-chaco/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/report-links-financial-giants-to-deforestation-of-paraguays-gran-chaco/#respond 13 Apr 2023 18:01:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267465 - A report by rights group Global Witness released last month says these financiers knowingly bankroll beef traders accused of having links to deforestation, despite warnings in 2020 by U.K.-based NGO Earthsight about the beef industry’s impact on the Gran Chaco.
- Almost all of the banks, investment managers and pension funds named in the new report are members of voluntary initiatives to eliminate and reverse commodity-driven deforestation from their portfolios.
- Paraguay has one of the highest rates of tropical deforestation in the world, having lost a quarter of its net forest cover between 2000 and 2020 — an area almost twice the size of Belgium.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/report-links-financial-giants-to-deforestation-of-paraguays-gran-chaco/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/mennonite-colonies-linked-to-deforestation-of-indigenous-territories-and-protected-areas-in-paraguay/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/mennonite-colonies-linked-to-deforestation-of-indigenous-territories-and-protected-areas-in-paraguay/#respond 24 Mar 2023 00:10:04 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266832 - Deforestation in Indigenous territories is illegal in Paraguay.
- Indigenous residents and advocates told Mongabay that the clearing is being done by one of the region’s Mennonite colonies; a representative from the colony refuted these claims.
- Deforestation for large-scale agriculture is also expanding in western Paraguay, which sources attribute to other Mennonite colonies.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/mennonite-colonies-linked-to-deforestation-of-indigenous-territories-and-protected-areas-in-paraguay/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/paraguay-weighs-natural-gas-drilling-in-medanos-del-chaco-national-park/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/paraguay-weighs-natural-gas-drilling-in-medanos-del-chaco-national-park/#respond 23 Mar 2023 21:28:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266819 - The 605,075-hectare (1,495,172-acre) national park has unique ecosystems and endemic flora and fauna, and is home to several Indigenous communities who rely on freshwater reserves that could be compromised by future drilling.
- Modifications to a key law were approved by the country’s chamber of deputies last year then rejected by the senate this week. But it has another opportunity to pass later this year.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/paraguay-weighs-natural-gas-drilling-in-medanos-del-chaco-national-park/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/indigenous-group-fights-cattle-onslaught-defends-uncontacted-relatives-in-the-gran-chaco/ https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/indigenous-group-fights-cattle-onslaught-defends-uncontacted-relatives-in-the-gran-chaco/#respond 03 May 2022 21:58:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255407 - The Chaco is home to the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode, one of the only known “uncontacted” Indigenous groups in South America outside of the Amazon; in early 2021, members of this group approached a camp of their contacted relatives to express their concerns about escalating forest destruction.
- The contacted Ayoreo-Totobiegosode have been engaged in a legal battle for their traditional homelands for nearly 30 years, and although Paraguay designated this region as a protected area in 2001, several cattle-ranching companies have obtained land titles within the region, with deforestation continuing.
- Last month, the tribe made further appeals to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights requesting the official title to their traditional lands.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/indigenous-group-fights-cattle-onslaught-defends-uncontacted-relatives-in-the-gran-chaco/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/luxury-wood-market-driving-extinction-of-rare-ipe-trees-report-warns/ https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/luxury-wood-market-driving-extinction-of-rare-ipe-trees-report-warns/#respond 14 Mar 2022 08:00:49 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253707 - Ipê hardwood is in high demand in the luxury timber market, especially for outdoor boardwalks, decks and furniture, as well as hardwood floors.
- The Forest Trends report urges officials to list the rare species under CITES, the international convention regulating the trade of threatened species.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/luxury-wood-market-driving-extinction-of-rare-ipe-trees-report-warns/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/threatened-wetlands-in-paraguays-lake-ypacarai-raise-legal-questions/ https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/threatened-wetlands-in-paraguays-lake-ypacarai-raise-legal-questions/#respond 25 Feb 2022 17:33:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253132 - In addition to providing habitats for countless species of flora and fauna, the wetlands act as a filter for freshwater and help control flooding and erosion.
- The projects were approved by the Ministry of Environment, sparking outcry from congressmen who want to know if protected area laws are being ignored in favor of urban development.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/threatened-wetlands-in-paraguays-lake-ypacarai-raise-legal-questions/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/paraguays-drought-hits-biodiversity-indigenous-communities-the-hardest/ https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/paraguays-drought-hits-biodiversity-indigenous-communities-the-hardest/#respond 03 Feb 2022 21:36:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252321 - Indigenous groups like the Aché and Ava Guaraní have lost their crops and likely face food insecurity should the drought continue throughout 2022.
- Turtles, aquatic mammals and fish that usually occupy now-dried-up wetlands have been forced into the major rivers, where they face a greater threat from overfishing.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/paraguays-drought-hits-biodiversity-indigenous-communities-the-hardest/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/wildlife-death-toll-from-2020-pantanal-fires-tops-17-million-study-finds/ https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/wildlife-death-toll-from-2020-pantanal-fires-tops-17-million-study-finds/#respond 17 Dec 2021 16:43:51 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250835 - The researchers came to this estimate by conducting distance sampling surveys, walking tracts of the Pantanal shortly after the fires and counting the number of dead vertebrates they encountered.
- However, the researchers say this is likely to be an underestimate since animals may have died underground or may have died later from burn injuries.
- The 2020 fires burned 4.5 million hectares (11 million acres) of the Pantanal, which is about 30% of the entire biome.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/wildlife-death-toll-from-2020-pantanal-fires-tops-17-million-study-finds/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/paraguay-failed-to-stop-soy-farms-from-poisoning-indigenous-land-un-says/ https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/paraguay-failed-to-stop-soy-farms-from-poisoning-indigenous-land-un-says/#respond 21 Oct 2021 18:15:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248430 - For more than a decade, the fumigation from neighboring soybean plantations killed the community’s plants and animals, while creating health issues for many residents.
- As a result, younger generations of Ava Guarani were unable to learn the community’s cultural customs, and many moved away from the community.
- Paraguay has the laws and institutions in place to regulate commercial agriculture but has demonstrated an unwillingness to apply them, according to the committee.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/paraguay-failed-to-stop-soy-farms-from-poisoning-indigenous-land-un-says/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/report-luxury-carmakers-still-sourcing-deforestation-linked-leather-from-paraguay/ https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/report-luxury-carmakers-still-sourcing-deforestation-linked-leather-from-paraguay/#respond 21 Oct 2021 15:54:26 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248413 - Two of three Paraguayan leather exporters shown to be buying hides from cattle grazed in illegally deforested parts of the Gran Chaco have increased their sales to Europe since the issue came to light in September 2020.
- Major European automakers are still unable to demonstrate how their supply chains are shielded from illegal deforestation in Paraguay.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/report-luxury-carmakers-still-sourcing-deforestation-linked-leather-from-paraguay/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/the-pantanal-is-burning-again-will-it-be-another-devastating-year/ https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/the-pantanal-is-burning-again-will-it-be-another-devastating-year/#respond 16 Sep 2021 18:54:30 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=247196 - With more than 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of the Pantanal already burned, some experts say this year’s fires could be nearly as devastating as last year’s if the situation is not carefully managed and the current fires are not contained.
- Others are not as concerned, noting that fire is part of the natural ecological process in the Pantanal, and that this year’s fires aren’t nearly as damaging or substantial as last year’s.
- One marked difference between 2020 and 2021 is this year’s increased efforts to fight the fires, with government agencies, NGOs and communities working together to protect the Pantanal.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/the-pantanal-is-burning-again-will-it-be-another-devastating-year/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/video/2021/07/one-of-south-americas-most-abundant-felids-geoffroys-cat-candid-animal-cam/ https://news.mongabay.com/video/2021/07/one-of-south-americas-most-abundant-felids-geoffroys-cat-candid-animal-cam/#respond 30 Jul 2021 05:31:01 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=245358 ]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/video/2021/07/one-of-south-americas-most-abundant-felids-geoffroys-cat-candid-animal-cam/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/study-shows-how-soy-cattle-team-up-to-drive-deforestation-in-south-america/ https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/study-shows-how-soy-cattle-team-up-to-drive-deforestation-in-south-america/#respond 12 Jul 2021 14:22:38 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244687 - Soybean farms are typically planted in old cattle pastures, and as soy encroaches, pasture is forced into new frontiers, driving deforestation and fires.
- Although soy was found to be largely an indirect driver of deforestation, policies addressing deforestation have to consider multiple commodities at once, such as the relationship between beef and soy.
- Increased commitments by companies to source from “zero-deforestation” supply chains are a promising strategy, but in order to work, the market needs to be more transparent.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/study-shows-how-soy-cattle-team-up-to-drive-deforestation-in-south-america/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/drugs-fire-settlers-poised-to-wipe-out-one-of-paraguays-most-biodiverse-forests/ https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/drugs-fire-settlers-poised-to-wipe-out-one-of-paraguays-most-biodiverse-forests/#respond 27 May 2021 23:40:41 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=243107 - Fires in late 2020 burned an estimated 45% of the reserve, and biologists say it may take decades for the area to recover.
- Meanwhile, drug traffickers are expanding illegal marijuana plantations within San Rafael and on May 21, more than a hundred outsiders reportedly crossed into the reserve where they are clearing trees and establishing settlements.
- Despite its international categorization as a national park, a 2002 recategorization error left San Rafael unrecognized as a protected area in Paraguay, making the area ineligible for proper protection.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/drugs-fire-settlers-poised-to-wipe-out-one-of-paraguays-most-biodiverse-forests/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/european-public-roundly-rejects-brazil-trade-deal-unless-amazon-protected/ https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/european-public-roundly-rejects-brazil-trade-deal-unless-amazon-protected/#respond 16 Feb 2021 18:32:15 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239639 - However, an extremely poor environmental record by the Mercosur nations, especially Brazil, has become a stumbling block to clinching the agreement. In new polling 75% of respondents in 12 European nations say the EU-Mercosur trade pact should not be ratified if Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil doesn’t end Amazon deforestation.
- France, the Parliaments of the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium’s Walloon region, have announced they will not endorse the trade pact. The ratification also finds resistance by Ireland and Luxembourg. Portugal’s government appears ready to move forward with ratification without environmental safeguards put in place.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/european-public-roundly-rejects-brazil-trade-deal-unless-amazon-protected/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/small-mammals-feel-the-stress-as-forests-shrink-with-possible-fallout-for-humans/ https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/small-mammals-feel-the-stress-as-forests-shrink-with-possible-fallout-for-humans/#respond 15 Feb 2021 18:11:52 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239596 - While small amounts of acute stress can help an animal to get out of a bad situation, prolonged stress levels weaken the immune system, making them more susceptible to disease.
- Pathogen spillover (from animals to humans) seems more likely in all animals that are crowded together in forest fragments and stressed out, underscoring the importance of the One Health approach, which recognizes the connection between human, environment, and animal health.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/small-mammals-feel-the-stress-as-forests-shrink-with-possible-fallout-for-humans/feed/ 0