Play this video to see deforestation around the PNCAT from 1990 to 2021 as recorded by satellite imagery.

In the 2021 part of the video, you will see additional colored spots:

  • yellow spots indicate recent deforestation since January 1, 2021
  • red spots indicate fires identified by FIRMS since January 1, 2021.

More information about PNCAT and deforestation

In cooperation with "Stiftung für indigene Gemeinschaften in Paraguay", GeoPAS has been helping combat deforestation and resolve land disputes affecting the indigenous populations living in the forest of the Gran Chaco of Paraguay.

The Gran Chaco is located across Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay and is currently suffering rapid deforestation at a rate of 250,000 hectares per year. With a focus on the ancestral territory known as "Patrimonio Natural y Cultural Ayoreo Totobiegosode" (PNCAT), the organisation advocates protecting the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode indigenous community ies alongside their own "Organizacion Payipie Ichadie Totobiegosode" (OPIT).

A large portion of the Paraguayan Chaco had been sold following an agreement made between the Paraguayan Government and foreign/international landowners in the last quarter of the 19th century. This sale resulted in the Totobiegosode community and other groups being forced to leave their ancestral homes. In 1993, the Totobiegosode community asked the government to return a portion of their ancestral homeland. The government agreed to their request, giving them back 111,000 hectares. However, there remains a big part of the land they have not yet received.

The territory of the Totobiegosode (PNCAT) continues to be under the threat of large-scale deforestation and other illegal activities. The video above shows the change of land use around PNCAT since 1990. Large land parcels around the area attract intruding settlers as well as cattle ranching.

PNCAT has also received the attention of the livestock industry and agricultural companies looking to farm on this land. The satellite imagery in the above video depicts the change in land use over time. Beginning in 2000, significant parts of PNCAT have become increasingly farmed and divided between agricultural businesses breaking the original promise of preservation as agreed upon in 1993 and renewed by IACHR (Resolution No. 04/2016, of February 3, 2016, issued within the framework of MC 54 -13) covering a total area of about 550,000 hectares.

In 2001 and 2016, the declaration and the protected measures for PNCAT had taken place under the law. This includes prevention of deforestation and third-party entry into the territory. Currently, OPIT is monitoring 90 focus areas within 550,000 hectares of the main part of the PNCAT. 4 out of 90 areas are threatened by Agri-businesses and have squatters who practice fire lighting to make way for fresh grass for their cattle.

The ultimate goal of "Stiftung für indigene Gemeinschaften in Paraguay" is simple: to stand for the rights of indigenous peoples and environmental protection in Chaco. "We want OPIT, assisted by their advocates to secure sufficient territory for themselves and their extended family members who have chosen to live in their forest isolated from mainstream society; to receive the protection of the state as guaranteed in their national constitution, free from further intrusions by outsiders." says Julio Duarte Romero OPIT's lawyer in Paraguay.

Only with international support will it be possible to secure the integrity of PNCAT as a single contiguous territory. Together with the monitoring that GeoPAS does, OPIT and other conservation groups can effectively fight against increasing encroaches into the protected land. So far OPIT has been able to protect approximately 250,000 of 550,0000 hectares. We look forward to our continued work in matters of environmental protection.

More information can be found at: