Conservation Issues
The Chaco is one of South America's last agricultural frontiers. Very sparsely populated and lacking sufficient all-weather roads and basic infrastructure (the Argentinian part is more developed than the Paraguayan or Bolivian part), it has long been too remote for crop planting. The central Chaco's Mennonite colonies are a notable exception.
Two factors may substantially change the Chaco in the near future: low land valuations and the region's suitability to grow fuel crops. Suitability for the cultivation of Jatropha has been proven. Sweet sorghum as an ethanol plant may prove viable, too, since sorghum is a traditional local crop for domestic and feedstock use. The feasibility of switchgrass is currently being studied by Argentina's INTA, as is the Karanda’y palm tree in the Paraguayan Chaco.
While advancements in agriculture will bring some improvements in infrastructure and employment for this traditionally rather neglected and impoverished region, loss of habitat / virgin forest is substantial. Paraguay, after having lost more than 90% of its Atlantic Rainforest between 1975 and 2005, is now losing its xenopheric forest (dry forests) in the Chaco at an annual rate of 220.000 hectare (2008) In mid 2009 a projected law, initiated by the Libiral Party, that would have outlawed deforestion in the Paraguay Chaco altogether, "Deforestacion Zero en el Chaco" did not get a majority in the Paraguay Parlament.
Deforestation in the Argentinian part of the Chaco amounted to an average of 100.000 hectares per year between 2001 and 2007
Read more about this topic: Gran Chaco
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