Preserving a Paraguayan paradise.

• Author: Goethals, Henry
• Position: Paraguayan forest - !Ojo! - Column

Deforestation, the advance of mechanized farming and lumbering are threatening the lairs of the jaguar, the tapir, the peccary and the giant armadillo in the humid semi-tropical forests of Paraguay. These forests are also home to more than 19 natural plant communities and rare birds such as the king vulture, the bare-throated bellbird and the large macaw.

To protect these animals from extinction, the Moises Bertoni Foundation, a private group, is collaborating with the Nature Conservancy and the government of Paraguay to create a reserve in the 175,000-acre Mbaracayu region. A virgin forest of rich biodiversity, the Mbaracayu is the largest single tract of essentially undisturbed forestland remaining in eastern Paraguay.

The eastern region of Paraguay between the Paraguay and the Parana Rivers was once covered with rich, humid semi-tropical forests. With the expansion of lumbering and farming activities, however, the forests are rapidly receding. At current rates of deforestation, virtually all of eastern Paraguay is expected to be stripped of its forestry cover by the year 2005.

The Mbaracayu reserve forms part of the 692,000-acre Jejui watershed. It is inhabited by the Ache, an indigenous tribe of hunters and gatherers who depend upon the...