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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Paraguay environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/paraguay/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>New Jaguar Rivers Initiative aims to reconnect South America’s fragmented ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2026 17:53:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Biodiversity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protected Areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wildlife Conservation]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319235</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Protected Areas, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forced to quarantine at a ranger station during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of researchers in northern Argentina passed the time by monitoring wildlife around a lagoon on the Bermejo River. One day, something unexpected appeared in the water: a giant river otter, thought to be extinct in the country for nearly 50 years. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forced to quarantine at a ranger station during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of researchers in northern Argentina passed the time by monitoring wildlife around a lagoon on the Bermejo River. One day, something unexpected appeared in the water: a giant river otter, thought to be extinct in the country for nearly 50 years. The researchers paddled out in kayaks to photograph the animal, which soon began building a den beside their station, allowing them to monitor its behavior. They eventually launched a campaign for its protection. “We couldn’t believe it. It was like it had come looking for us,” recalled Sofía Heinonen, executive director of the nonprofit Rewilding Argentina, the group working at the ranger station. “Everyone’s reaction was that it was as if everything seemed to be aligning too perfectly. The encounter was so powerful that we were practically stunned.” Giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) are the largest otter species in the world, reaching nearly 2 meters (6 feet) in length and weighing up to 32 kilograms (70 pounds). They are highly social, typically living in family groups that communicate with a variety of calls. Heinonen and her team said they believe this otter came downstream from neighboring Paraguay. The sighting, inside El Impenetrable National Park, is about 140 kilometers (87 miles) south of the Paraguayan border. They wondered how many other otters might still be out there, and how their habitat connected to allow one to reach Argentina. Rewilding Argentina has been working in the country for more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/new-jaguar-rivers-initiative-aims-to-reconnect-south-americas-fragmented-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Paraguay expanded a reserve in the Gran Chaco. Why is deforestation still rising there?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/paraguay-expanded-a-reserve-in-the-gran-chaco-why-is-deforestation-still-rising-there/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/paraguay-expanded-a-reserve-in-the-gran-chaco-why-is-deforestation-still-rising-there/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2026 16:59:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environmental Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Land Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Land Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protected Areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforest Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318947</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Protected Areas, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Destruction, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than a decade ago, officials in Paraguay expanded a biosphere reserve in the Gran Chaco, hoping to protect more of the world’s largest tropical dry forest and the Indigenous communities who live there. But a lack of enforcement has left the reserve vulnerable to deforestation caused by agribusiness and cattle ranching, observers say. Approximately [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than a decade ago, officials in Paraguay expanded a biosphere reserve in the Gran Chaco, hoping to protect more of the world’s largest tropical dry forest and the Indigenous communities who live there. But a lack of enforcement has left the reserve vulnerable to deforestation caused by agribusiness and cattle ranching, observers say. Approximately 2.78 million hectares (6.87 million acres) were added to Paraguay’s Chaco Biosphere Reserve in 2011, yet the area continues to be one of the country’s worst hit by forest loss, according to satellite imagery analyzed by Mongabay. Indigenous groups say regulations are selectively upheld, allowing landowners to clear the forest. “In practice, the biosphere reserve hasn’t gone beyond being just a designation, a protection category, without actually advancing to a stage of regulation or stronger control over human activity,” said Miguel Ángel Alarcón, general coordinator of Iniciativa Amotocodie, a nonprofit that helps the Indigenous Ayoreo defend their forests in the Gran Chaco. The biome has some of the highest deforestation rates in the world, with around 5.2 million hectares (12.8 million acres) lost between 2000 and 2020. As the forest shrinks, Indigenous Ayoreo-Totobiegosode have struggled to maintain customs dependent on their voluntary isolation. They rely on the forest for food, shelter and medicine, and don’t have immunity to many outside diseases. “They live running from one place to another because they’re frightened of the loud noises of the machinery,” said Guei Basui Picanerai, secretary of the Guidai and Ducodegosode Ayoreo Association of Paraguay, which represents&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/paraguay-expanded-a-reserve-in-the-gran-chaco-why-is-deforestation-still-rising-there/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>José Zanardini, the priest who tried to reconcile faith and Indigenous autonomy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/jose-zanardini-the-priest-who-tried-to-reconcile-faith-and-indigenous-autonomy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/jose-zanardini-the-priest-who-tried-to-reconcile-faith-and-indigenous-autonomy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2026 00:59:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/24134322/260124-FATHER-GIUSEPPE-ZANARDINI-OBIT-1811567-e1769006160838-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313292</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Anthropology, Environment, Green, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Obituary, and Religions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For much of South America’s history, the arrival of a missionary has carried two reputations at once. One is charitable: a figure with medicine, schooling, and a language of human dignity that can be useful in a state that is often absent. The other is coercive: an agent of conversion and acculturation, sometimes entangled with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For much of South America’s history, the arrival of a missionary has carried two reputations at once. One is charitable: a figure with medicine, schooling, and a language of human dignity that can be useful in a state that is often absent. The other is coercive: an agent of conversion and acculturation, sometimes entangled with land seizures, forced settlement, and abuses that Indigenous communities still live with. Among the peoples of the Gran Chaco, the story of “contact” is still unfolding, with some groups settled and others choosing isolation. In that setting, the line between accompaniment and intrusion has never been simple. Anthropology, too, has had its double role. At its best it records languages, histories, and ways of seeing that outsiders once dismissed as obstacles to “progress.” At its worst it becomes another instrument for ordering Indigenous people into categories designed by others. The most careful scholars learn to doubt their own categories. They also learn that a field notebook can outlast a sermon. That tension framed the life of Father José (Giuseppe) Zanardini, a Salesian priest and anthropologist who arrived in Paraguay in 1978 and spent decades working among Indigenous communities, especially the Ayoreo in the Chaco. He died on January 19th 2026, aged 83. Zanardini was born in Brescia, Italy, in 1942. He studied engineering in Milan before turning to philosophy and theology. The Salesians chose him for Paraguay, and he chose, in turn, to study anthropology, completing a doctorate in social anthropology in England. He would&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/jose-zanardini-the-priest-who-tried-to-reconcile-faith-and-indigenous-autonomy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Pasture and agricultural expansion in Gran Chaco drive biodiversity loss: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/07/pasture-and-agricultural-expansion-in-gran-chaco-drive-biodiversity-loss-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/07/pasture-and-agricultural-expansion-in-gran-chaco-drive-biodiversity-loss-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2025 09:10:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kristine Sabillo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/23090705/Chaco_Paraguaycattle_ranch_Presidente_Hayes_Province-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=short-article&#038;p=303010</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Chaco, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Crisis, Cattle Pasture, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Governance, Green, Mammals, Pasture, Tropical Deforestation, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A recent study has identified how cattle pasture and agricultural expansion, driven by global demand for beef and soy, is causing biodiversity loss in the Gran Chaco region of Argentina and Paraguay. The Gran Chaco, the second-largest forested region in South America, after the Amazon, is spread across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil. Over the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A recent study has identified how cattle pasture and agricultural expansion, driven by global demand for beef and soy, is causing biodiversity loss in the Gran Chaco region of Argentina and Paraguay. The Gran Chaco, the second-largest forested region in South America, after the Amazon, is spread across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil. Over the past 30 years, more than 19 million hectares (47 million acres) of the Chaco were lost to pasture and agricultural expansion, mainly for beef and soy. To find out how this forest conversion has affected biodiversity in the Argentinian and Paraguayan Chaco, researchers created maps of where 47 key mammal species had declined from 2008-2018. They overlaid these on maps of agriculture and pasture expansion during the same period. The analysis showed that conversion of forest into pasture was associated with greater biodiversity loss than cropland expansion. The researchers also found that 15 soy- and beef-producing Argentinian and Paraguayan provinces in the Chaco were associated with biodiversity declines. Upon tracing the supply chains of the commodities as of 2018, they found that the domestic consumption of both commodities was a key driver of biodiversity loss. The European Union, Vietnam and China were among Argentinian soy importers driving the greatest biodiversity decline in the Chaco. Among importers of Paraguayan beef, Chile, Russia and Israel were the top nations contributing to biodiversity loss. The EU had a disproportionately high impact on biodiversity decline associated with Argentinian soy. The authors write this was not surprising as the EU&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/07/pasture-and-agricultural-expansion-in-gran-chaco-drive-biodiversity-loss-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Indigenous delegates at the U.N. raise alarm on isolated peoples in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-delegates-at-the-u-n-raise-alarm-on-voluntary-isolated-peoples/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-delegates-at-the-u-n-raise-alarm-on-voluntary-isolated-peoples/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Apr 2025 15:52:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/20201745/isolados-funai-uncontacted-indigenous-javari-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298208</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Mining, Amazon Rainforest, Environment, Environmental Policy, Human Rights, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Logging, Uncontacted Tribes, and United Nations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story is published through the Indigenous News Alliance. At the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues — the world’s largest convening of Indigenous peoples — Indigenous leaders from South America are taking the chance to spotlight threats facing isolated peoples (also known as uncontacted people). Deforestation is closing in on some communities in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story is published through the Indigenous News Alliance. At the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues — the world’s largest convening of Indigenous peoples — Indigenous leaders from South America are taking the chance to spotlight threats facing isolated peoples (also known as uncontacted people). Deforestation is closing in on some communities in the Amazon and many lack official recognition of records of their existence, say representatives at the 10-day gathering in the U.N. headquarters in New York City. They are holding multiple events in the city, including launching a book with strategies to recognize their presence and sharing solutions to protect the lands they depend on. “There needs to be greater respect, protection and land demarcation for these peoples,” said Bushe Matis, general coordinator of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Vale do Javari (UNIVAJA). “It’s important for us Indigenous peoples who came to New York to raise our voices for them.” The rights of isolated Indigenous peoples are guaranteed in international legislation and some national laws, such as the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO Convention 169). However, these are at times violated by states, companies, and invaders searching for land. In some cases, they are unprotected because states, including Venezuela and Paraguay, don’t recognize them. Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact, also known as PIACI, are threatened by the exploitation of natural resources, drug trafficking, illegal logging, and mining in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indigenous-delegates-at-the-u-n-raise-alarm-on-voluntary-isolated-peoples/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Uncontacted Ayoreo could face health risks as Gran Chaco shrinks, experts warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uncontacted-ayoreo-could-face-health-risks-as-gran-chaco-shrinks-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uncontacted-ayoreo-could-face-health-risks-as-gran-chaco-shrinks-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2025 18:32:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conservation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environmental Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Groups]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Industrial Agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Land Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Land Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protected Areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforest Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/21182210/Gran-Chaco-Overhead-Shot-1-768x500.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296288</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Chaco, Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Cattle Ranching, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, Governance, Infrastructure, Mining, Protected Areas, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco, driven largely by agribusiness and infrastructure development, poses an increasing threat to the Indigenous Ayoreo people. The communities, living in isolation, risk losing their ancestral lands and customs, and could be exposed to deadly diseases from the outside world, experts warn. Now a global coalition of Indigenous rights advocates is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco, driven largely by agribusiness and infrastructure development, poses an increasing threat to the Indigenous Ayoreo people. The communities, living in isolation, risk losing their ancestral lands and customs, and could be exposed to deadly diseases from the outside world, experts warn. Now a global coalition of Indigenous rights advocates is trying to sound the alarm on the problem, in hopes that the Paraguayan government and international community will respond with more ambitious solutions. In February, the International Working Group for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (GTI-PIACI) visited northern Paraguay to better understand the threats against the Ayoreo communities, some of whom still live in isolation, without contact with the outside world. The visit was even more concerning than expected, members told Mongabay. “At any moment, our Ayoreo brothers and sisters in isolation are going to come out,” said Rocío Picaneré, a representative of the Ayoreo Native Council of Eastern Bolivia, which works with GTI-PIACI. “And why is this happening? Because we treat the forest like a supermarket, and the forest is being cleared every day.” GTI-PIACI is made up of 21 Indigenous organizations and civil society groups focused on addressing the threats against uncontacted peoples living in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazilian Cerrado and Gran Chaco, a dry forest ecosystem that covers approximately 65 million hectares (160 million acres) across Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia. It’s the second-largest forest in South America, after the Amazon, and has suffered some of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/uncontacted-ayoreo-could-face-health-risks-as-gran-chaco-shrinks-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Paraguay’s Indigenous Paĩ Tavyterã communities fight invaders, fires and drought</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-indigenous-pai-tavytera-communities-fight-invaders-fires-and-drought/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-indigenous-pai-tavytera-communities-fight-invaders-fires-and-drought/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2024 18:00:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/28122035/7-Two-Pai-leaders-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290839</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Drought, Environment, Fire Management, Fires, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Culture, Indigenous Cultures, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Spirituality and Conservation, Traditional People, and wildfires]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rosalba Gomez says she remembers many fires throughout her childhood: bright orange flames feeding on the natural grasslands surrounding her community, engulfing homes, trees and animals. Her parents spent hours in their food garden, known as kokúe, where they planted corn, manioc and beans. During the dry season, they burned the plot to improve soil [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rosalba Gomez says she remembers many fires throughout her childhood: bright orange flames feeding on the natural grasslands surrounding her community, engulfing homes, trees and animals. Her parents spent hours in their food garden, known as kokúe, where they planted corn, manioc and beans. During the dry season, they burned the plot to improve soil quality and revitalize the land. But they had to be careful. High temperatures, strong winds and low humidity in Paraguay’s Amambay department, where some Indigenous Paĩ Tavyterã peoples live, often caused fires to spread out of control. Native fruit and medicinal plants were lost in the blaze, still to be recovered to this day. “We lost a lot,” Gomez, a Paĩ leader from the Ita Guasu community, tells Mongabay in a video call. “Even our house would burn.” About 25 years ago, a Paĩ leader traveled to Bolivia, where he was taught by other Indigenous peoples how to make fires in a more controlled way. The method involved creating a barrier around the kokúe to contain the flames. This helped, Gomez says, and for a while there were fewer fires. “Before, people didn’t have that awareness,” she says. “But after they realized what they were losing, they began to control it.” While the Paĩ learned how to control their fires, they haven’t been able to control the actions of their neighbors. In recent years, Paĩ communities have found themselves surrounded by cattle ranches and soybean plantations. Residents say the landowners cut down forests, destroy native&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-indigenous-pai-tavytera-communities-fight-invaders-fires-and-drought/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Paraguay’s pumas adapt, with some help, to a ranch-filled landscape</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-pumas-adapt-with-some-help-to-a-ranch-filled-landscape/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-pumas-adapt-with-some-help-to-a-ranch-filled-landscape/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2024 10:02:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rodolfo Chisleanschi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/08095507/Puma-Puma-concolor-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289873</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Conservation, Endangered Species, Human-wildlife Conflict, Jaguars, Mammals, National Parks, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s said that lions and tigers stalk the semiarid scrubland of Paraguay’s Chaco region. Yet this is the heart of South America, oceans away from the natural habitat of either of those big cats. Here, “tiger” refers to the jaguar, and “lion” to the puma. The former is three times larger than the latter, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s said that lions and tigers stalk the semiarid scrubland of Paraguay’s Chaco region. Yet this is the heart of South America, oceans away from the natural habitat of either of those big cats. Here, “tiger” refers to the jaguar, and “lion” to the puma. The former is three times larger than the latter, and as apex predators sharing the same habitat, their coexistence is a fraught one, but in many ways also beneficial. “They are two big cats; they have the same problems and the same possible solutions to reduce conflicts,” says Laura Villalba, a biologist and coordinator of the jaguar program carried out by the Paraguayan branch of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). “Because of the situation regarding jaguar populations, most conservation efforts are geared toward this species, but anything done for one species is useful for the other.” Jeffrey Thompson, co-coordinator of the jaguar program at another conservation NGO, Guyra Paraguay, notes the contrast in the cats’ respective conservation status: the jaguar (Panthera onca) is considered critically endangered in Paraguay, while the more populous puma (Puma concolor) is considered a species of least concern. A juvenile puma photographed on camera trap. Image courtesy of WCS Paraguay. The northernmost corners of the Gran Chaco, the second-largest forest on the continent, after the Amazon, occupy the northern strip of Indigenous Guaraní land along Paraguay’s border with Bolivia. The area is home to national parks, reserves, public and private natural monuments, and biosphere reserves, all of which form a mosaic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/paraguays-pumas-adapt-with-some-help-to-a-ranch-filled-landscape/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Impacts and legacies of migration across the Pan Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/impacts-and-legacies-of-migration-across-the-pan-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/impacts-and-legacies-of-migration-across-the-pan-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2024 09:15:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diseases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Groups]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous territories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Population]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/23193115/Acampamento_ao_Longo_da_Ferrovia_Madeira-Mamore_-_669_Acervo_do_Museu_Paulista_da_USP_cropped-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289119</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Latin America, Paraguay, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon People, Amazon Rainforest, Colonialism, Colonization, Diseases, Human Migration, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Migration, Population, and Religions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Most of the Pan Amazonian population consists of immigrants or their descendants. They arrived over centuries, motivated by historical events that moulded their self-identity. This diverse assemblage of people represents a broad range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, which is further stratified by economic opportunity – or the lack thereof. Immigration into the Amazon followed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Most of the Pan Amazonian population consists of immigrants or their descendants. They arrived over centuries, motivated by historical events that moulded their self-identity. This diverse assemblage of people represents a broad range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, which is further stratified by economic opportunity – or the lack thereof. Immigration into the Amazon followed routes that were determined by proximity and access, first via the river network and then by highways that were constructed specifically to facilitate colonization. The differences amongst the groups are reflected in their production systems, which explain, in part, why the different regions of the Amazon have followed distinct development trajectories. The first wave: Jesuits versus bandeirantes The first European explorers of the Amazon were soon followed by missionaries affiliated with the Society of Jesus, more commonly known as Jesuits. Although few in number, probably fewer less than 3,000 individuals over 150 years of mission activity, they had a massive impact on the cultural and political history of the Pan Amazon. Nominally non-state actors, these highly educated clerics played an important role in stabilizing the frontier zones that separated the Spanish and Portuguese empires. The Jesuits deliberately founded outposts in remote landscapes as part of their evangelical mission to convert native populations. Isolation, however, also allowed them to pursue their philosophical agenda free from the interference of colonial power. Their approach relied on innovative tactics, such as preaching in the native language, but their goal was also novel: to create autonomous communities based on early&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/impacts-and-legacies-of-migration-across-the-pan-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Collagen and meat giants fuel deforestation and rights violations in Paraguay: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/collagen-and-cattle-fuel-deforestation-and-rights-violations-in-paraguay-says-new-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/collagen-and-cattle-fuel-deforestation-and-rights-violations-in-paraguay-says-new-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2024 15:40:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iñigo Alexander]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/09153400/ParaguayChaco_acaballo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288419</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Cattle Ranching, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, and Land Rights]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Global collagen and meat industries are continuing to foster rampant deforestation and contribute to the rights violations of Indigenous communities in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco, one of South America’s last climate-critical forests, according to a new report from the environmental NGO Global Witness. Global Witness revealed that two of South America’s largest meat companies, Minerva Foods [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Global collagen and meat industries are continuing to foster rampant deforestation and contribute to the rights violations of Indigenous communities in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco, one of South America’s last climate-critical forests, according to a new report from the environmental NGO Global Witness. Global Witness revealed that two of South America’s largest meat companies, Minerva Foods and Frigorífico Concepción, are directly supplied by a series of cattle farms responsible for more than 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres) of forest clearance in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco between 2021 and 2023 — an area roughly equivalent to the size of New York City. This follows investigations in previous years, like one Earthsight in 2020, that found the meat companies implicated in the same issues. The Global Witness report traced a portion of this deforestation to Rousselot, a leading global collagen manufacturer that purchased over 3,000 tonnes of cattle hides from Frigorífico Concepción since 2022. Products containing Rousselot’s collagen, like Peptan, are sold by international retailers such as Amazon and Costco. It is unclear exactly how much deforestation Rousselot is directly linked to through such purchases. Neither Minerva Foods nor Frigorífico Concepción responded to Mongabay’s requests for comment. But Darling Ingredients — Rousselot’s parent company — stated that the company is operating within the bounds of legality in the Paraguayan Gran Chaco. “We stand by our commitment to sourcing raw materials responsibly and sustainably,” the company said in a statement. Environmentalists also raise concerns about how a proposed delay to the upcoming EU anti-deforestation regulation could&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/collagen-and-cattle-fuel-deforestation-and-rights-violations-in-paraguay-says-new-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Smallest wildcat of the Atlantic Forest faces enormous threats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/smallest-wildcat-of-the-atlantic-forest-faces-enormous-threats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/smallest-wildcat-of-the-atlantic-forest-faces-enormous-threats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Feb 2024 11:20:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aldo Benítez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/27111501/tirica-6-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279221</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cats, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In October 2022, Paraguay hosted the ODESUR South American Games for the first time. The event proved a great success, and from the outset, people flocked to the games, largely thanks to the animal that was chosen to be the competition’s unusual mascot — the southern tiger cat (Leopardus guttulus). This charming but little-known creature [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In October 2022, Paraguay hosted the ODESUR South American Games for the first time. The event proved a great success, and from the outset, people flocked to the games, largely thanks to the animal that was chosen to be the competition’s unusual mascot — the southern tiger cat (Leopardus guttulus). This charming but little-known creature quickly endeared itself to the public, and the local media were quick to report on where it lives, what kind of cat it is and the growing problems with its habitat. The ODESUR Games highlighted that, although choosing the southern tiger cat as a sports mascot might seem unusual, so little is known about it. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, this yellow-toned, black-spotted felid prowls the Atlantic Forest that stretches from Paraguay to Argentina and Brazil, even reaching the easternmost tip of Bolivia. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says its total population is around 6,000, and lists the animal as vulnerable. The main threat throughout the Atlantic Forest is large-scale deforestation, explains Víctor Martínez, a researcher, member of the Paraguayan Association of Mastozoology and manager of protected areas with the Itaipú Dam, a hydroelectric plant shared by Paraguay and Brazil. But as is the case with all small felids in the region, not much research has been conducted on the southern tiger cat. Until very recently, it was believed the southern tiger cat (Leopardus guttulus) was a subspecies of the oncilla (L. tigrinus). This shows how difficult it is to tell&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/smallest-wildcat-of-the-atlantic-forest-faces-enormous-threats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2023/07/28214610/Rugido2.ogg" length="57171" type="audio/ogg" />
									</item>
						<item>
					<title>New Paraguay law aims to improve carbon credit market</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/new-paraguay-law-aims-to-improve-carbon-credit-market/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/new-paraguay-law-aims-to-improve-carbon-credit-market/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2023 08:00:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/19203348/Feature-24-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274433</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Carbon Credits, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, Mining, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month Paraguay approved new regulations meant to improve the country’s carbon credit market and attract more international interest. But the regulations have also raised concerns about land ownership and the credibility of carbon credit reporting. A law to create a more organized, transparent carbon credit system was approved by recently elected President Santiago [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month Paraguay approved new regulations meant to improve the country’s carbon credit market and attract more international interest. But the regulations have also raised concerns about land ownership and the credibility of carbon credit reporting. A law to create a more organized, transparent carbon credit system was approved by recently elected President Santiago Peña, but some language in the law might complicate the way carbon credits are bought and sold, critics said. “We want future generations to be able to continue taking advantage of these benefits and the great natural capital that Paraguay has,” said Environment Minister Rolando de Barros Barreto during a Senate meeting earlier this month. The legislation creates a registry for carbon credit projects within the National Directorate of Climate Change, part of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. The registry would serve as the official record of every carbon credit program active in Paraguay and ensure that land isn’t being registered more than once — a common problem in the global carbon credit market. Carbon credits allow large polluters like oil companies and airlines to purchase land that still has intact forest ecosystems as a way of offsetting their carbon emissions. But many carbon credit projects have been criticized for being ineffective. In some cases, the programs have failed to adequately protect the land as intended. In others, they protect land that would have gone unharmed anyway — what’s known as “additionality.” In those cases, the credit is reducing emissions only on paper.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/new-paraguay-law-aims-to-improve-carbon-credit-market/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Infrastructure in the Pan Amazon: Railroad development</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-railroad-development/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-railroad-development/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2023 20:44:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/19180810/Barcarena-port-Para-railway-Brazil-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273454</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, Paraguay, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Conservation, Amazon Destruction, Amazon People, Amazon Rainforest, Books, Community Development, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Environment, Forests, Green, Infrastructure, Rainforests, Roads, Sustainable Development, Threats To Rainforests, Threats To The Amazon, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The challenges to developing waterways have focused investor’s attention on railroads. In 2020, the Amazon Hub of the IIRSA portfolio included eight rail projects, which were either completed (2), under construction (1) or on the drawing boards (5). The estimated total budget ranges between $US 20 and $US 30 billion, but even the larger number [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The challenges to developing waterways have focused investor’s attention on railroads. In 2020, the Amazon Hub of the IIRSA portfolio included eight rail projects, which were either completed (2), under construction (1) or on the drawing boards (5). The estimated total budget ranges between $US 20 and $US 30 billion, but even the larger number is an underestimate because it excludes several of Brazil’s most ambitious initiatives. The Brazilian railroad sector is an unusual mixture of private and public corporations, and a concessionaire system where public assets are leased to private companies that commit to large capital investments. Starting in 2008, the federal government launched an initiative to expand the rail network, particularly new lines that would penetrate the agricultural landscapes of the Southern Amazon and the Amazon-adjacent landscapes of Northeast Brazil, which are collectively referred to as MATOPIBA. Following is a description of the major rail investments underway in the Brazilian Amazon. Ferrovía Norte (EF-364) This is probably the most lucrative railroad in Brazil. Built between 1998 and 2012, it has dramatically lowered the cost of commodity transport from the farms of central and southern Mato Grosso to the port of Santos (São Pualo). Operated by Brazil’s largest private railroad company (Rumo Logístico), the line currently reaches Terminal Ferroviário de Rondonópolis, a massive logistical facility with the capacity to transship 12 million tonnes per year. The ninety-year concession for EF-340 stipulates the rail line will be extended to Cuiabá and, potentially, to Porto Velho and Santarem. Over the near&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-railroad-development/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Infrastructure in the Pan Amazon: Waterway options</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-waterway-options/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-waterway-options/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Sep 2023 16:40:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/19180845/PARA-WEB-2_8c-Cargill-terminal-at-Santarem-shutterstock_1155880294-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273441</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Latin America, Paraguay, Peru, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Amazon Conservation, Amazon Destruction, Amazon People, Amazon Rainforest, Community Development, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Environment, Forests, Infrastructure, Rainforests, Roads, Sustainable Development, Threats To Rainforests, Threats To The Amazon, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The main stem of the Amazon River has provided access to ocean-going cargo ships for centuries, including modern container ships that service the manufacturing sector in Manaus and ore-carriers that haul bauxite from near Oriximiná (Pará) and iron ore and manganese from Santana (Amapá). The first modern grain terminal, built at Itacoatiara in 1998 across [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The main stem of the Amazon River has provided access to ocean-going cargo ships for centuries, including modern container ships that service the manufacturing sector in Manaus and ore-carriers that haul bauxite from near Oriximiná (Pará) and iron ore and manganese from Santana (Amapá). The first modern grain terminal, built at Itacoatiara in 1998 across from the mouth of the Madeira River (Amazonas), was followed in 2003 by one at Santarem (Pará) at the mouth of the Tapajós, in 2014 at Barcarena near Belem (Pará) at the mouth of the Tocantins, and in 2016 at Santana (Amapá) on the north side of the Amazon delta. These terminals are currently receiving grain from barge loading facilities located at the top of the three major transportation corridors, each of which has developed or hopes to expand an industrial waterway, known as a hidrovía. Above Manaus, on the section of the river known as the Solimões, river traffic declines by several orders of magnitude because there are no industrial mines or agricultural landscapes producing commodities at scales required to support a bulk transport system. A few ocean-going cargo ships hauling timber are known to operate sporadically from Iquitos (Peru) or deliver heavy machinery required by the oil and gas industry at Coari (Amazonas) and Iquitos. River traffic consists largely of riverboats providing fuel and consumer goods to riparian communities (HML #3), cruise liners catering to tourists on the Rio Negro and timber for the manufacturing sector in Manaus or for export to overseas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/infrastructure-in-the-pan-amazon-waterway-options/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Expanding agriculture could worsen flooding in South American plains, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/expanding-agriculture-could-worsen-flooding-in-south-american-plains-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/expanding-agriculture-could-worsen-flooding-in-south-american-plains-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jul 2023 17:47:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Industrial Agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plantation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/18172300/Toay_La_Pampa_Argentina_-_panoramio_27-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271090</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Brazil, Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Environment, Flooding, Forests, Governance, Green, Plantations, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[International demand for soybeans and corn has turned the South American plains into an economic pillar for countries like Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. But all of that activity also comes with a heavy price. A new study published last month in Science found that industrial agriculture is making the region more susceptible to “widespread [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[International demand for soybeans and corn has turned the South American plains into an economic pillar for countries like Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. But all of that activity also comes with a heavy price. A new study published last month in Science found that industrial agriculture is making the region more susceptible to “widespread flooding,” something researchers warned should serve as a wake-up call to farmers and lawmakers alike. “These floods are a major concern for the farmers and people living in the region, but also elsewhere as further expansions of these floods could potentially disrupt food supplies and prices,” said co-author Mariana Rufino, a former professor at Lancaster University. A government official examines the crops of a farmer in Argentina. (Photo courtesy of Sensa) The South American plains — including Las Pampas and the Gran Chaco — have seen agricultural activity expand by around 2.1 million hectares (5.2 million acres) a year, according to a 2021 study on soybean expansion in the region. Researchers used satellite imagery from the past four decades, statistical modeling and hydrological simulations to analyze shifting trends in the vegetation, revealing changes to the water cycle that could prove harmful to the entire region. Cropland for wheat, corn and cassava, among other things, has replaced native vegetation, resulting in new flooding — around 700 sq. km per year, the study said. Groundwater that was once at a depth of around six-to-12 meters, is now rising to shallower levels, usually around four meters, the study&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/expanding-agriculture-could-worsen-flooding-in-south-american-plains-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>A mega-highway threatens South America’s vulnerable Gran Chaco</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/a-mega-highway-threatens-south-americas-vulnerable-gran-chaco/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/a-mega-highway-threatens-south-americas-vulnerable-gran-chaco/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2023 09:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandrapopescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infrastructure]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/07165136/Dirt-track-in-Chaco-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269513</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Infrastructure, Roads, Wildilfe, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Gran Chaco, South America’s second-largest forest after the Amazon, has been steadily replaced by croplands and cattle ranches for decades. Now, the semiarid lowland faces a new threat: the Bioceanic Corridor mega-highway that cuts through the Chaco to connect Chile and Brazil via Argentina and Paraguay. While advocates claim the road will boost the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Gran Chaco, South America’s second-largest forest after the Amazon, has been steadily replaced by croplands and cattle ranches for decades. Now, the semiarid lowland faces a new threat: the Bioceanic Corridor mega-highway that cuts through the Chaco to connect Chile and Brazil via Argentina and Paraguay. While advocates claim the road will boost the economy and strengthen trade links, conservationists warn it puts under threat local wildlife populations and people. The 2,290-kilometer (1,423-mile) road begins on Chile’s Pacific Ocean coast before winding east across the Gran Chaco in Argentina and Paraguay and finishing in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil’s agricultural powerhouse. First approved in 2015, the project’s completion is estimated for 2025, with Paraguay already advancing quickly on its part. “This is going to be the great Panama Canal,” Mario Abdo Benítez, the Paraguayan president, said in a 2022 speech. The Bioceanic Corridor mega-highway, dubbed the new Panama Canal, winds 2,290 km from Chile to Brazil via Argentina and Paraguay. It ends in the state Mato Grosso do Sul, where an existing road to the port of Santos in the south of Brazil already connects the state to the Atlantic Ocean. Image courtesy of Rota Bioceanica. The road aims to reduce cargo travel time and costs to lucrative Asian and Oceania markets as well as increase tourism in the region. In Brazil, it offers an alternative to the existing road from Mato Grosso do Sul to the port of Santos in São Paulo, cutting transport time&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/a-mega-highway-threatens-south-americas-vulnerable-gran-chaco/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Report links financial giants to deforestation of Paraguay’s Gran Chaco</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/report-links-financial-giants-to-deforestation-of-paraguays-gran-chaco/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/report-links-financial-giants-to-deforestation-of-paraguays-gran-chaco/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2023 18:01:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/09151841/JAGUAR-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267465</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, Land rights and extractives, and Latin America]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Banking, Banks, Beef, Corporate Environmental Transgessors, Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Role In Conservation, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environmental Law, Finance, Food, Food Industry, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Culture, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Law, Meat, Supply Chain, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions are helping to finance beef companies linked to the destruction of the Paraguayan Gran Chaco, according to a report published by rights group Global Witness. It lists investment giants BlackRock and Vanguard; lenders BNP Paribas, HSBC, Santander, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America; and pension fund [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions are helping to finance beef companies linked to the destruction of the Paraguayan Gran Chaco, according to a report published by rights group Global Witness. It lists investment giants BlackRock and Vanguard; lenders BNP Paribas, HSBC, Santander, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America; and pension fund APG as among the institutions that hold large investments in companies linked to illegal deforestation and land-grabbing. “Our new investigation shows that banks are continuing to service and hold equity in companies linked to deforestation and human rights abuses, even when they made public pledges not to,” says the report, titled “Cash, Cattle and the Gran Chaco: How financiers turned a blind eye to Paraguay’s deforestation crisis.” Even after it was made public in 2020 that deforestation had entered the beef companies’ supply chains, the financial institutions “continued to hold and even accelerate investments.” Deforestation in the Chaco for cattle ranching. Image by Earthsight. Paraguay’s Gran Chaco region is home to the second-largest forest in South America, covering around 60% of Paraguay, as well as areas of Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. It has one of the highest rates of tropical deforestation in the world, with Paraguay losing a quarter of its net forest cover between 2000 and 2020, or an estimated 5.2 million hectares (12.8 million acres) — an area almost twice the size of Belgium. The primary driver of deforestation in the Gran Chaco is cattle ranching. This sustained loss, despite the Gran Chaco&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/report-links-financial-giants-to-deforestation-of-paraguays-gran-chaco/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Mennonite colonies linked to deforestation of Indigenous territories and protected areas in Paraguay</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/mennonite-colonies-linked-to-deforestation-of-indigenous-territories-and-protected-areas-in-paraguay/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/mennonite-colonies-linked-to-deforestation-of-indigenous-territories-and-protected-areas-in-paraguay/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2023 00:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aldo Benítez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/23235018/DJI_0972-1200x800-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266832</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Atlantic Forest, Biodiversity, Cattle, Cattle Ranching, Colonialism, Dry Forests, Environment, Featured, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Habitat Destruction, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Rights, Mata Atlantica, Mongabay Data Studio, Plantations, Soy, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay — In the middle of the Paraguayan portion of the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest, a paved road leads to the Mbya Indigenous community of Pindo’i. Roads in the area are usually unpaved and uneven, and in the rainy season it’s almost impossible to use them due to mud. But this road is different. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay — In the middle of the Paraguayan portion of the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest, a paved road leads to the Mbya Indigenous community of Pindo’i. Roads in the area are usually unpaved and uneven, and in the rainy season it’s almost impossible to use them due to mud. But this road is different. A sign posted over where the road begins reads “Sommerfeld Colony — Welcome — Private land and roads.” It’s a Mennonite colony whose families use the road to move cattle, soy, corn or wheat they grow in their cropland that surrounds the Indigenous community. The road that leads into Sommerfeld Colony. Image by Mario Silvero. Satellite data and imagery from Global Forest Watch show clearing associated with large agricultural fields whittling away at already-fragmented tracts of primary forest in the Pindo’I Indigenous Territory over the past several years. Cristino Benítez, district leader of the National Forest Institute (INFONA), confirmed the data. “We have checked and the new clearings are happening inside the Pindo’i reserve,” Benítez said. Satellite data show large swaths of Pindo&#8217;I Indigenous Territory — as well as neighboring Sa Juan CheiroAra Poty Yhovy Indigenous Territory — were deforested between 2001 and 2021. Considered one of the most biologically important and endangered ecosystems in the world, the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest encompasses portions of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay and hosts multitudes of species, including some found nowhere else in the world. In addition, more Indigenous communities reportedly live in Paraguay’s portion of the Paraná&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/mennonite-colonies-linked-to-deforestation-of-indigenous-territories-and-protected-areas-in-paraguay/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Paraguay weighs natural gas drilling in Médanos del Chaco National Park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/paraguay-weighs-natural-gas-drilling-in-medanos-del-chaco-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/paraguay-weighs-natural-gas-drilling-in-medanos-del-chaco-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Mar 2023 21:28:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maxradwin]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Land Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protected Areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wildlife Conservation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/23195403/112-768x450.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266819</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Dry Forests, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Gas, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mining, National Parks, Natural Gas, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Paraguay is considering opening up mining and natural gas drilling in one of its national parks in the Gran Chaco, despite widespread outcry that development could compromise the fragile savannah ecosystem. Two modifications to a law would designate Médanos del Chaco National Park as public domain, allowing the government to open investment to a hydrocarbon [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Paraguay is considering opening up mining and natural gas drilling in one of its national parks in the Gran Chaco, despite widespread outcry that development could compromise the fragile savannah ecosystem. Two modifications to a law would designate Médanos del Chaco National Park as public domain, allowing the government to open investment to a hydrocarbon industry that was expelled from the area several years ago. &#8220;There&#8217;s going to be exploitation. There&#8217;s going to be drilling,&#8221; said Mónica Centrón, Project Coordinator of Alter Vida, an eco-development non-profit. &#8220;It also leaves the door open for other companies to come in. Basically, the park will be destroyed if this happens.&#8221; The modifications — made to two articles of a law that expanded the park — were approved by the lower house last October but failed in the senate this week, thanks in part to recommendations from President Mario Abdo and the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADES) to reject them. The proposal now returns to the lower house. The 605,075-hectare (1,495,172-acre) national park, located in the northwest of the country, makes up one piece of a larger biosphere reserve that includes other protected areas like the Defensores del Chaco National Park and Bolivia’s Kaa-Iya National Park. An armadillo in Médanos del Chaco National Park. (Photo courtesy of MADES) The park is under consideration for UNESCO World Heritage status, due to its unique dry forest and savannah ecosystems and high biodiversity, which includes animals like the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), pantanal cat (Leopardus&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/paraguay-weighs-natural-gas-drilling-in-medanos-del-chaco-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Indigenous group defends uncontacted relatives from cattle onslaught in the Gran Chaco</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/indigenous-group-fights-cattle-onslaught-defends-uncontacted-relatives-in-the-gran-chaco/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/indigenous-group-fights-cattle-onslaught-defends-uncontacted-relatives-in-the-gran-chaco/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 May 2022 21:58:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Groups]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Land Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Land Grabbing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Deforestation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wildlife Conservation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/02230704/Guireja-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255407</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Bolivia, Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Beef, Biodiversity, Cattle, Cattle Pasture, Cattle Ranching, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Politics, Featured, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mongabay Data Studio, Soy, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon gets a lot of attention, but there’s another massive forest in South America: the Gran Chaco. This hot, dry forest stretches across Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina, covering 87 million hectares (215 million acres) of land, an area roughly twice the size of California. Many Indigenous people call this arid landscape home, including the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Amazon gets a lot of attention, but there’s another massive forest in South America: the Gran Chaco. This hot, dry forest stretches across Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina, covering 87 million hectares (215 million acres) of land, an area roughly twice the size of California. Many Indigenous people call this arid landscape home, including the Totobiegosode Indigenous community of the Ayoreo ethnic group, one of the only known uncontacted (or more aptly described as voluntarily isolated) groups in South America outside of the Amazon. Guireja, an Ayoreo woman, sits outside her house that she was forced to abandon as a result of logging, Paraguay. Photo by Survival International. A faction of this group emerged from the forest in 2004, saying that bulldozers and land clearing had pushed them into ever-dwindling fragments of forest where they could no longer survive, according to U.K.-based NGO Earthsight. “They left the forest because their capacity to survive was diminishing every day,” Taguide Picanerai, head of a Totobiegosode rights organization, told Earthsight. “The forest, the Eami as the Ayoreo say, was shrinking, and when it&#8217;s shrinking it&#8217;s harder to find water or food, to find the fruit and animals which Ayoreo eat.” Now, history is repeating itself. In early 2021, members of the isolated group approached the camp of their contacted relatives at night. “Through signs and songs, they communicated their concerns that they are becoming more and more cramped due to deforestation and the presence of strange people in their territory,” Julio Duarte, a lawyer&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/indigenous-group-fights-cattle-onslaught-defends-uncontacted-relatives-in-the-gran-chaco/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Luxury wood market driving extinction of rare ipê trees, report warns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/luxury-wood-market-driving-extinction-of-rare-ipe-trees-report-warns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/luxury-wood-market-driving-extinction-of-rare-ipe-trees-report-warns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Mar 2022 08:00:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maxradwin]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Logging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/14043150/Feature1-1-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253707</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Latin America, Paraguay, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Timber Trade, Logging, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Destruction, Timber Laws, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Whether walking along a beach boardwalk, installing new hardwood floors or sitting out on a friend’s deck, there’s a good chance you’ve already come across the wood of the rare ipê trees. These are among the most popular species supplying a global luxury wood market, an increasing driver of deforestation in the Amazon Basin. Demand [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Whether walking along a beach boardwalk, installing new hardwood floors or sitting out on a friend’s deck, there’s a good chance you’ve already come across the wood of the rare ipê trees. These are among the most popular species supplying a global luxury wood market, an increasing driver of deforestation in the Amazon Basin. Demand for the wood, combined with a lack of environmental trade protections, has pushed ipê trees close to extinction, according to a new report from Forest Trends. The report warns that if international regulations aren’t implemented soon, ipê may disappear from the Amazon altogether. “Ipê populations have severely declined over the last 30 years,” the report said, “with growing concerns about their future.” The name “ipê” refers to several remarkably similar tree genera, including Handroanthus, Tabebuia and Roseodendron, all of which have extremely hard woods that are resistant to rot, making them perfect for outdoor use. Around 96% of them are found in Brazil, with others spread throughout Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. Two of the ipê species, Handroanthus serratifolius and Handroanthus impetiginosus, are listed respectively as threatened and near threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List. At least 525 million kilograms (1.16 billion pounds) of wood from ipê trees was exported from the region between 2017 and 2021, the report said. Most of it went to the United States, Canada and Europe. Other exports went to Israel, China, South Korea, Japan and India. An ipê tree in Brazil. (Photo via Leticia Momesso/Pixabay.) Ipê trees&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/luxury-wood-market-driving-extinction-of-rare-ipe-trees-report-warns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Threatened wetlands in Paraguay’s Lake Ypacaraí raise legal questions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/threatened-wetlands-in-paraguays-lake-ypacarai-raise-legal-questions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/threatened-wetlands-in-paraguays-lake-ypacarai-raise-legal-questions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2022 17:33:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freshwater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protected Areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wildlife Conservation]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/25172320/WhatsApp-Image-2022-02-24-at-1.49.43-PM-1-768x363.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253132</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Freshwater Animals, Freshwater Ecosystems, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Lakes, Protected Areas, Urbanization, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Urban development projects surrounding a protected lake in Paraguay are threatening the recovery of local ecosystems and raising questions about the government’s ability to circumvent conservation mandates. Wetlands around Lake Ypacaraí are being filled in to allow for the construction of housing and tourism projects despite a series of environmental recovery measures that prohibit development [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Urban development projects surrounding a protected lake in Paraguay are threatening the recovery of local ecosystems and raising questions about the government’s ability to circumvent conservation mandates. Wetlands around Lake Ypacaraí are being filled in to allow for the construction of housing and tourism projects despite a series of environmental recovery measures that prohibit development in the area. “These activities are totally altering the natural makeup of the lake,” Monica Centrón, of Alter Vida, a socio-environmental development organization in Paraguay, told Mongabay. “The area they’re working in has so much flora and fauna. We’re losing all of that. We’re losing water quality and space for biodiversity.” Work on the new construction projects could endanger the as many as 79 species of fish that live in the lake, as well as the many mammals that the lake supports, including the Maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis). Wetlands surrounding the lake also act as a filter for freshwater and help control flooding and erosion. Wetlands surrounding the lake act as a filter for freshwater and help control flooding and erosion. Photo via Silvia Centrón/MOPC. The impact of the development could be felt throughout the region’s watersheds, as Lake Ypacaraí’s tributaries span about 1,113 square kilometers (429 square miles), ultimately flowing into the Paraguay River, one of the largest in South America. “The people need to know about this situation,” Centrón said. “We have to be conscious of this and try to stop it because, if&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/threatened-wetlands-in-paraguays-lake-ypacarai-raise-legal-questions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Paraguay’s drought hits biodiversity, Indigenous communities the hardest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/paraguays-drought-hits-biodiversity-indigenous-communities-the-hardest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/paraguays-drought-hits-biodiversity-indigenous-communities-the-hardest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Feb 2022 21:36:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maxradwin]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wildlife]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/03212105/FEATURE-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252321</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Deforestation, Drought, Environmental Politics, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Rivers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The ongoing drought in Paraguay, now moving into its third year, has put increasing pressure on conservation efforts throughout the country to support local communities and protect wildlife. Record-breaking heat waves in the South American nation have lasted longer than expected, resulting in water shortages and forest fires that threaten local biodiversity and many of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The ongoing drought in Paraguay, now moving into its third year, has put increasing pressure on conservation efforts throughout the country to support local communities and protect wildlife. Record-breaking heat waves in the South American nation have lasted longer than expected, resulting in water shortages and forest fires that threaten local biodiversity and many of the Indigenous communities who steward it. “It’s extreme,” said Luis Recalde of Paraguay’s Organization for Conservation and Sustainable Development. “It’s so extreme that even wells have started drying up.” Signs of the drought started to appear in Brazil as early as 2018, according to NASA. But it didn’t reach Paraguay until 2020, with temperatures reaching historic highs in many parts of the country by 2021 and into this year, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The country has experienced droughts in the past, but it’s rare that they extend for so long, Recalde said. The culprit is likely climate change and could continue to be a problem in the decades to come, according to WWF and the U.N. Some Indigenous communities have lost as much as 70-80% of their crops, including corn, brown pinto beans, sesame and rice, among other crops. Photo via Bjarne Fostervold. Wildlife take the heat Local ecosystems, which in Paraguay include grasslands, savannas and tropical and subtropical forests, are struggling against high temperatures, lack of rainfall and rising numbers of fires. The fire season in Paraguay usually lasts between August and September. But during the drought, fires have hit forests at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/paraguays-drought-hits-biodiversity-indigenous-communities-the-hardest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/paraguays-drought-hits-biodiversity-indigenous-communities-the-hardest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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					<title>Wildlife death toll from 2020 Pantanal fires tops 17 million, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/wildlife-death-toll-from-2020-pantanal-fires-tops-17-million-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/wildlife-death-toll-from-2020-pantanal-fires-tops-17-million-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2021 16:43:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/17151433/DSC03298-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250835</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[animal tracking, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Change And Biodiversity, Disasters, Fires, Forest Fires, Megafires, wildfires, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2020, fires tore across the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland region that spans across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. By the time the year drew to a close, the fires had impacted about 4.5 million hectares (11 million acres), which accounts for 30% of the biome and covers nearly 22 times the area lost to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2020, fires tore across the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland region that spans across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. By the time the year drew to a close, the fires had impacted about 4.5 million hectares (11 million acres), which accounts for 30% of the biome and covers nearly 22 times the area lost to fire between 2000 and 2018. As firefighters and volunteers worked to fight the flames, they found jaguars with feet burned so badly they couldn’t walk, tapirs with red patches of scorched skin, and the bodies of crocodiles that weren’t able to run away fast enough. Now scientists have figured out how many vertebrates lost their lives during the Pantanal fires in 2020. According to a new study published in Scientific Reports, nearly 17 million vertebrates, including snakes, birds and armadillos, perished in the fires. “The numbers we estimated did not surprise me so much,” lead author Walfrido Tomas, from the Pantanal branch of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), told Mongabay in an email. “Given the large scale and intensity of the wildfires, as well as the abundance of wildlife in the Pantanal, the results were expected to be huge.” The researchers came to this estimate by conducting distance sampling surveys, working with local crews to walk along tracts of the Pantanal and counting the number of dead animals they encountered. Between August and November 2020, they surveyed nearly 115 kilometers (71 miles) of the Pantanal, visiting some sites shortly after fires had burned through.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/wildlife-death-toll-from-2020-pantanal-fires-tops-17-million-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Paraguay failed to stop soy farms from poisoning Indigenous land, UN says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/paraguay-failed-to-stop-soy-farms-from-poisoning-indigenous-land-un-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/paraguay-failed-to-stop-soy-farms-from-poisoning-indigenous-land-un-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2021 18:15:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maxradwin]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Land Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/21181228/Feature1-2-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248430</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, and Latin America]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Culture, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Pesticides, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The United Nations’ Human Rights Committee has found that the Paraguayan government failed to regulate the use of harmful chemicals near an Indigenous community, resulting in severe health issues and the degradation of its culture. The OHCHR said the government didn’t adequately respond to credible complaints made by the Ava Guarani people about two nearby [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The United Nations’ Human Rights Committee has found that the Paraguayan government failed to regulate the use of harmful chemicals near an Indigenous community, resulting in severe health issues and the degradation of its culture. The OHCHR said the government didn’t adequately respond to credible complaints made by the Ava Guarani people about two nearby properties illegally fumigating genetically modified soybeans. The chemicals leaked onto Ava Guarani land and upended traditional customs. “Serious environmental damages have severe impacts on indigenous people’s family life, tradition, identity and even lead to the disappearance of their community,” said committee member Hélène Tigroudja. “It dramatically harms the existence of the culture of the group as a whole.” In the complaint, the community said the runoff had killed many of its animals, including chickens and ducks, while also hurting its crops and poisoning the surrounding land and waters. Unable to hunt, fish or forage as they once had, the Ava Guarani had no choice but to stop many of their traditional ceremonies, the decision said. They couldn’t build their jerokyha dance houses without the proper forest materials, or prepare kagüi, a special liquor, because many of the ingredients had disappeared. Without these ceremonies, and as the years passed without government action, children in the community stopped learning Ava Guarani traditions. Other community members moved off the land in search of healthier, more sustainable places to live. The committee also said that the commercial farming activity had violated the Ava Guarani’s sense of “home,” the definition&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/paraguay-failed-to-stop-soy-farms-from-poisoning-indigenous-land-un-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Report: Luxury carmakers still sourcing deforestation-linked leather from Paraguay</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/report-luxury-carmakers-still-sourcing-deforestation-linked-leather-from-paraguay/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/report-luxury-carmakers-still-sourcing-deforestation-linked-leather-from-paraguay/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2021 15:54:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laurel Sutherland]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Laurelsutherland]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/21153438/cattle-ranching-gran-chaco-paraguay-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248413</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chaco, Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Cattle Ranching, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Forests, Governance, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Reserves, Protected Areas, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The forests of the Gran Chaco in Paraguay continue to be the target of illegal deforestation, prompting one of the world’s last uncontacted Indigenous nations to reportedly reach out to express their concern over the continued encroachment by outsiders. In September 2020, an investigation by London-based NGO Earthsight exposed the link between the illegal clearances [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The forests of the Gran Chaco in Paraguay continue to be the target of illegal deforestation, prompting one of the world’s last uncontacted Indigenous nations to reportedly reach out to express their concern over the continued encroachment by outsiders. In September 2020, an investigation by London-based NGO Earthsight exposed the link between the illegal clearances inside PNCAT, a protected territory that’s home to the Ayoreo Totobiegosode people, for cattle ranching, and the leather used by luxury carmakers such as BMW and Jaguar Land Rover. The report revealed that two ranches within PNCAT — Caucasian SA, and a farm belonging to an associate of Cooperativa Chortitzer — were found to have illegally cleared more than 2,700 and 500 hectares respectively (6,700 and 1,200 acres) between 2018 and 2019. After the report was made public, Earthsight, along with local and international NGOs, called on Paraguayan authorities to investigate the cases of illegal deforestation at the Caucasian and Chortitzer farms, as well as whether the more than 200 fires at Caucasian in 2020 were in breach of the law. In a follow-up report released last week, “Grand Theft Chaco II: The Vice Continues,” Earthsight said Paraguayan authorities had failed to investigate the exposed illegalities, resulting in new cases of illegal deforestation in the Gran Chaco, a lowland region that covers parts of Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. Cattle ranch in Gran Chaco. Image by Peer V via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Deforestation in Paraguay Chaco to make way for cattle ranching. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/report-luxury-carmakers-still-sourcing-deforestation-linked-leather-from-paraguay/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>The Pantanal is burning again. Will it be another devastating year?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/the-pantanal-is-burning-again-will-it-be-another-devastating-year/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/the-pantanal-is-burning-again-will-it-be-another-devastating-year/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Sep 2021 18:54:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/16115242/H1A7315-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=247196</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Brazil, Pantanal, and Paraguay]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change And Biodiversity, Climate Change And Conservation, Climate Change And Extreme Weather, Conservation, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forest Fires, Grasslands, Habitat Destruction, Impact Of Climate Change, Megafires, Savannas, Wetlands, wildfires, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The fires that tore through South America’s Pantanal region in 2020, destroying 30% of its area, are still scorched in memory. And now, the world’s largest wetland that fans out across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay is burning again. Scientists are still trying to quantify the full extent of the damage of the 2020 fires, considered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The fires that tore through South America’s Pantanal region in 2020, destroying 30% of its area, are still scorched in memory. And now, the world’s largest wetland that fans out across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay is burning again. Scientists are still trying to quantify the full extent of the damage of the 2020 fires, considered the worst in the Pantanal’s history. But it’s estimated that it may have impacted 65 million native vertebrates, including iconic species like jaguars (Panthera onca) and giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), as well as about 4 billion invertebrates. As this year’s fire season kicks off, some experts are concerned about its cumulative impacts with the 2020 fires. In August, more than 1,500 fires were detected in the Brazilian section of the Pantanal, according to data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Most are believed to have been set off by humans, either accidentally or intentionally. The ongoing drought in the region has created “the perfect landscape for fires,” said Heideger Lima do Nascimento, a biologist at the NGO Chalana Esperança. It’s estimated that the fires have burned more than 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) across the Pantanal region in the aggregate period between January and August this year, the second largest in a decade, according to data compiled by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The extension of this year’s fires — also endorsed by the Instituto SOS Pantanal — shows that this is again “an atypical year in the volume of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/the-pantanal-is-burning-again-will-it-be-another-devastating-year/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>One of South America’s most abundant felids: Geoffroy&#8217;s cat &#124; Candid Animal Cam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/video/2021/07/one-of-south-americas-most-abundant-felids-geoffroys-cat-candid-animal-cam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/video/2021/07/one-of-south-americas-most-abundant-felids-geoffroys-cat-candid-animal-cam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2021 05:31:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Romina Castagnino]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Romi Castagnino]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/07/30052151/Geoffroys_Cat-wikimedia-commons-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=245358</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Candid Animal Cam]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we are meeting one of the most abundant felids of South America: the Geoffroy&#8217;s cat. The Geoffroy&#8217;s cat (Leopardus geoffroyi) lives in the Pampas, Andes, and Gran Chaco areas of South America. It is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we are meeting one of the most abundant felids of South America: the Geoffroy&#8217;s cat. The Geoffroy&#8217;s cat (Leopardus geoffroyi) lives in the Pampas, Andes, and Gran Chaco areas of South America. It is amongst the world’s smallest wildcats weighing around 4 kg (8.8 pounds). Usually, those living in the south of its range are bigger than those in the north. Geoffroy&#8217;s cat’s fur has many black spots and stripes around its neck, chest, face and tail. The background color varies between regions: from brownish-yellow in the north to grayish in the south. Melanistic forms are also common, mostly in wetland or forested areas. The Geoffroy’s cat is secretive, solitary and mainly nocturnal and usually sleeps in trees or dense vegetation during the day. It is a very agile climber and can walk along the underside of branches. The cat is a very good swimmer and has sometimes been observed swimming in fast-flowing rivers that are 30 meters wide. The feline hunt in trees, in water and on the ground, mainly birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals helping control small wild animal populations. The Geoffroy’s cat’s greatest threat is habitat destruction due to deforestation, and overhunting for the fur trade. It also suffers from predation by dogs and vehicle collisions. Heavy commercial hunting pressure from the 1960s to the late 1980s is believed to have reduced populations. Currently,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/video/2021/07/one-of-south-americas-most-abundant-felids-geoffroys-cat-candid-animal-cam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Soy and cattle team up to drive deforestation in South America: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/study-shows-how-soy-cattle-team-up-to-drive-deforestation-in-south-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/study-shows-how-soy-cattle-team-up-to-drive-deforestation-in-south-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jul 2021 14:22:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lizkimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fires]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Fires]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Global Trade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greenhouse gas emissions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infrastructure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rainforests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/07/12134945/soy_brazil_Hansen-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244687</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation and Global Commodities]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Argentina, Atlantic Forest, Bolivia, Brazil, Cerrado, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Amazon Agriculture, Amazon Soy, Cattle, Cattle Pasture, Cattle Ranching, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Fires, Forests, Global Trade, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Meat, Photos, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Saving The Amazon, Soy, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the human population grows, so does our demand for food, and soy is one of the key crops meeting that demand. Found in far more than tofu, soy is the largest source of protein for animal feed (such as cattle) and the second-largest source of vegetable oil globally after palm oil. The largest soy [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[As the human population grows, so does our demand for food, and soy is one of the key crops meeting that demand. Found in far more than tofu, soy is the largest source of protein for animal feed (such as cattle) and the second-largest source of vegetable oil globally after palm oil. The largest soy importer, China, saw a 2,000% increase in soy imports over the past two decades, with the majority going to feed livestock to meet the Chinese population’s increasing meat consumption. “As long as the whole market is increasing meat consumption and developing countries are getting wealthier per capita and they&#8217;re changing their diets, we&#8217;re going to see soybean expand,” Matt Hansen, a professor in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, told Mongabay. Rising global soy production has led to the clearing of forests, especially in the tropics. More than half of the world’s soy is grown in South America, and between 2000 and 2019, the production of the crop on the continent has doubled, according to new research published in the journal Nature Sustainability. Deforestation for soy in the Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay. The researchers used satellite imagery to identify areas of soy cultivation. Guided by this data, five teams drove around the continent to verify the extent of farms across all the biomes where soy is grown: the Amazon Rainforest, the Atlantic Forest, the Cerrado scrubland, the Chaco dry forest, the Chiquitania savanna, the Pampas grassland, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/study-shows-how-soy-cattle-team-up-to-drive-deforestation-in-south-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Drugs, fire, settlers poised to wipe out one of Paraguay’s most biodiverse forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/drugs-fire-settlers-poised-to-wipe-out-one-of-paraguays-most-biodiverse-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/drugs-fire-settlers-poised-to-wipe-out-one-of-paraguays-most-biodiverse-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2021 23:40:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aldo Benítez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/27232402/Incendios_14-1200x800-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=243107</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Paraguay, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Drug Trade, Environment, Fires, Forest Fires, Forests, Green, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Reserves, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, National Parks, Pasture, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Ranching, Roads, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[San Rafael National Park/Proposed National Reserve sits in eastern Paraguay, quietly encompassing a remnant of the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest, a unique biome that stretches between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay and provides habitat to some 260 species of mammals and 940 species of birds. More than half of its plant species and 90% of its [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[San Rafael National Park/Proposed National Reserve sits in eastern Paraguay, quietly encompassing a remnant of the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest, a unique biome that stretches between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay and provides habitat to some 260 species of mammals and 940 species of birds. More than half of its plant species and 90% of its amphibians are endemic, meaning they’re found nowhere else in the world. San Rafael’s portion alone boasts more than 435 bird species – 70 of which are endemic – along with 61 mammal, 82 reptile and amphibian and 52 fish species, according to Rebecca Smith, a primatologist and country director at Fundación Para La Tierra, who added that a lack of study of the area “means there is probably much more.” San Rafael&#8217;s forests are home to a multitude of species, including hooded capuchins (Sapajus cay). Image by Bernard Dupont via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). In addition to supporting unique wildlife populations, San Rafael’s forests benefit the climate and nearby human communities as well. “Studies in other areas of Atlantic Forest have shown that this habitat can store an average of 223.5 tons of carbon/hectare, therefore preserving the forest is also an important tool in the fight against climate change,” Smith said. “The forest also protects a recharge zone for the Guaraní Aquifer that provides drinking water for millions of people in South America.” But this unique forest is swiftly disappearing as it’s gobbled up for timber and farmland, and razed by fire. “The Upper&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/drugs-fire-settlers-poised-to-wipe-out-one-of-paraguays-most-biodiverse-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>European public roundly rejects Brazil trade deal unless Amazon protected</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/european-public-roundly-rejects-brazil-trade-deal-unless-amazon-protected/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/european-public-roundly-rejects-brazil-trade-deal-unless-amazon-protected/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Feb 2021 18:32:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jenny Gonzales]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/16175629/BANNER-IMAGE-13-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239639</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Brazil, European Union, France, Paraguay, United Kingdom, and Uruguay]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Amazon Agriculture, Amazon Conservation, Amazon Destruction, Amazon Rainforest, Conservation, Controversial, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Environmental Politics, Farming, Fires, Food Industry, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Trade, Globalization, Governance, Government, Green, Industrial Agriculture, International Trade, Megafires, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, Threats To The Amazon, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An average 75% of respondents in 12 European nations say the gigantic EU-Mercosur trade pact should not be ratified if Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil doesn’t end Amazon deforestation; EU governments are listening.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Netherlands is one of the EU countries that stands strongly for an end to Amazon deforestation before ratifying the free trade agreement with Mercosur. This sign in front of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum Museum was created by Greenpeace Netherlands and reflects the position of the nation’s populace and Parliament. Image © Olivier Truyman / Greenpeace. A new poll shows that the grand majority of Europe’s people favors implementing effective protections of the Brazilian Amazon, ending deforestation there, before the EU agrees to ratify the free trade agreement with Mercosur (composed of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay). The EU-Mercusor pact, when or if signed, would be the biggest trade deal in history, worth US$19 trillion, and would greatly benefit Brazilian agricultural commodities producers and the nation’s struggling economy. However, the South American country’s horrific environmental record under President Jair Bolsonaro could now doom the agreement, as the EU’s conservation-sensitive public rejects Mercosur. The new poll, conducted by YouGov, a London-based public opinion and market research company, interviewed 12,703 people via the Internet. An average of 75% of respondents aged 18+ across 12 European countries — France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Austria — believe that their governments should halt ratification of the free trade deal at least until the deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is halted. They agree that trade deal approval should be paused, even if a delay would reduce European exports to the South American countries. Only 12% of respondents wish for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/european-public-roundly-rejects-brazil-trade-deal-unless-amazon-protected/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>As forests shrink, mammals are stressed out— with possible fallout for humans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/small-mammals-feel-the-stress-as-forests-shrink-with-possible-fallout-for-humans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/small-mammals-feel-the-stress-as-forests-shrink-with-possible-fallout-for-humans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Feb 2021 18:11:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lizkimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[forest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forest Destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mammals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tropical Forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/15180039/mouseopossum-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239596</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Paraguay]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Atlantic Forest, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Humans aren’t the only ones feeling anxiety about environmental destruction. As forests shrink, small mammals are also feeling stressed, and we can tell by their fur. A team of scientists collected fur samples from 106 small rodents and marsupials in six forest fragments in the Atlantic Forest of Paraguay. After grinding each fur sample into [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Humans aren’t the only ones feeling anxiety about environmental destruction. As forests shrink, small mammals are also feeling stressed, and we can tell by their fur. A team of scientists collected fur samples from 106 small rodents and marsupials in six forest fragments in the Atlantic Forest of Paraguay. After grinding each fur sample into a powder, the researchers used a bioassay to measure the levels of glucocorticoids (e.g. corticosterone and cortisol), hormones that become elevated with stress. Animals living in smaller fragments of forest had higher levels of glucocorticoids than those in larger forest patches, according to the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports. &#8220;We suspected that organisms in deforested areas would show higher levels of stress than animals in more pristine forests, and we found evidence that that&#8217;s true,&#8221; Noé de la Sancha, associate professor of biology at Chicago State University and co-author of the paper, said in a statement. &#8220;Small mammals, primarily rodents and little marsupials, tend to be more stressed out, or show more evidence that they have higher levels of stress hormones, in smaller forest patches than in larger forest patches.&#8221; Pastor E. Perez is holding a mykureí, Marmosa (Micoureus) paraguayana, a small Neotropical marsupial, in Paraguay’s Tapytá Nature Reserve. Photo by Noé U. de la Sancha. The mammals were caught in both live traps (Sherman traps) and kill traps (Victor traps) and researchers were surprised to find that the type of trap used to capture the animals impacted the hormone levels as well. Fur&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/small-mammals-feel-the-stress-as-forests-shrink-with-possible-fallout-for-humans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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