Posted on 03 September
2013 | Asunción, Paraguay: The Paraguayan
government has extended the “Zero Deforestation
Law” for a further five years, resulting
in an important conservation win for this
highly threatened eco-region.
The Land Conversion
Moratorium for the Atlantic Forest of Paraguay,
also known as the “Zero Deforestation Law”
was enacted in 2004 and dramatically slowed
the country’s deforestation rate by prohibiting
the transformation and conversion of forested
areas in Paraguay's eastern region.
The Atlantic Forest,
located in Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina,
is one of the world's most endangered tropical
rainforests, with just 7 percent of its
original surface coverage remaining. Despite
the massive deforestation, fragmentation,
habitat destruction and degradation of rivers,
it contains nearly 7 percent of the world’s
plant and animal species, many of which
are endemic and threatened with extinction.
Paraguay previously
had the second-highest deforestation rate
in the world, and nearly 7 million hectares
of Atlantic Forest were lost to slash-and-burn
methods of agriculture and ranching.
Most of the remaining forests have been
exploited for timber, and some are second
growth forests recovering from deforestation.
“Reducing emissions
from deforestation and forest degradation
through sustainable forest management (REDD+)
in Paraguay is imperative not only to maintain
one of the most threatened biomes on Earth,
but also to reduce emissions and to preserve
the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities,
including many indigenous groups,” said
Lucy Aquino, Director of WWF Paraguay.
After Paraguay approved
the Zero Deforestation Law for the eastern
part of the country in 2004, there was a
decrease of deforestation by about 90 percent.
The hydrological processes
of these forests are responsible for the
quantity and quality of drinking water to
thousands of cities in a highly urbanized
and industrialized region, and for different
sectors of the economy such as agriculture,
fisheries, industry, tourism and energy
generation.
The law, set to expire
in December 2013, has now been extended
thanks to Paraguay honoring the commitments
made in support of WWF’s Zero Net Deforestation
by 2020 goal at the Convention of Biological
Diversity Conference of Parties in Bonn,
Germany, as well as the World Congress of
IUCN in Barcelona, Spain.
Despite this great win
for conservation, there is still much to
be done; WWF is working with the government
of Paraguay and local NGOs to implement
financial and legal mechanisms such as payments
for environmental services, to truly achieve
a Zero Net Deforestation in the Atlantic
Forest in Paraguay.
