PARAGUAY

Please note, this page is not longer being updated. For more recent information, please see news.mongabay.com and use the search function to find the country feed. For more up-to-date data on forest cover and loss, check out Global Forest Watch.

Paraguay Forest Figures

Forest Cover
Total forest area: 18,475,000 ha
% of land area: 46.5%

Primary forest cover: 1,850,000 ha
% of land area: 4.7%
% total forest area: 10.0%

Deforestation Rates, 2000-2005
Annual change in forest cover: -178,600 ha
Annual deforestation rate: -0.9%
Change in defor. rate since '90s: 9.1%
Total forest loss since 1990: -2,682,000 ha
Total forest loss since 1990:-12.7%

Primary or "Old-growth" forests
Annual loss of primary forests: n/a
Annual deforestation rate: n/a
Change in deforestation rate since '90s: n/a
Primary forest loss since 1990: n/a
Primary forest loss since 1990:0.0%

Forest Classification
Public: n/a
Private: n/a
Other: n/a
Use
Production: 0.2%
Protection: n.s.%
Conservation: 10%
Social services: n.s.%
Multiple purpose: 0%
None or unknown: 89.8

Forest Area Breakdown
Total area: 18,475,000 ha
Primary: 1,850,000 ha
Modified natural: 16,582,000 ha
Semi-natural: n/a
Production plantation: 43,000 ha
Production plantation: n/a

Plantations
Plantations, 2005: 43,000 ha
% of total forest cover: 0.2%
Annual change rate (00-05): 1,400,000 ha

Carbon storage
Above-ground biomass: n/a M t
Below-ground biomass: n/a M t

Area annually affected by
Fire: n/a
Insects: n/a
Diseases: n/a

Number of tree species in IUCN red list
Number of native tree species: n/a
Critically endangered: 0
Endangered: 5
Vulnerable: 7

Wood removal 2005
Industrial roundwood: 4,976,000 m3 o.b.
Wood fuel: 6,847,000 m3 o.b.

Value of forest products, 2005
Industrial roundwood: $252,680,000
Wood fuel: $225,746,000
Non-wood forest products (NWFPs): n/a
Total Value: $478,426,000


More forest statistics for Paraguay

Paraguay has more than 18 million hectares of tropical forest, very little of which can be classified as true rainforest. As of 1990, about 10 percent of this forest cover was considered primary forest.

In the 1990s, the Paraguayan government initiated a media campaign to make its citizens more aware of the country's environmental issues, but the efforts have not affected the county's overall deforestation rate, which has actually increased 9 percent since the close of the 1990s. Currently, Paraguay loses an average of 178,600 hectares of forest per year, largely due to subsistence farming and land clearing for cattle pasture. Poor infrastructure has hampered efforts to develop the country's potential timber resources—the value of industrial round wood harvested in 2005 was only about $253 million.

Part of the world's largest wetland, the Pantanal is found in Paraguay. There are concerns that proposed infrastructure projects could damage this important ecosystem.

According to IUCN, less than 4 percent of Paraguay is protected on paper. The country has some 1,084 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles, of which, 1.5 percent are endemic and 3.7 percent are threatened. Paraguay is home to at least 7,851 species of vascular plants

Recent articles | Paraguay news updates | XML

Suggested reading - Books
Unless otherwise specified, this article was written by Rhett A. Butler [Bibliographic citation for this page]

Other resources

Contact me if you have suggestions on other rainforest-related environmental sites and resources for this country.


Image copyright Google Earth, MDA EarthSet, DigitalGlobe 2005

CIA-World Factbook Profile
FAO-Forestry Profile



Last updated: 6 Feb 2006