What is still at stake in the Gran Chaco?

The study analyzes land-system changes in the Gran Chaco from 1985 to 2015 and simulates futures up to 2045 across nine scenarios. It finds that the 'Agribusiness' narrative leads to the most severe social-ecological impacts, with 10% of the region already following this pathway. Potential hotspots for vegetation loss include western and southern Argentinian Chaco and western Paraguayan Chaco. The authors argue that stricter land-use and conservation planning are necessary to protect the region's biodiversity, carbon density, and forest-dependent communities.

• Since 1985, large areas of woodland in the Gran Chaco have been replaced by intensified agriculture and mosaics of agriculture and remaining natural vegetation.
• Simulations for 2045 identify potential hotspots of natural vegetation loss in the western and southern Argentinian Chaco and the western Paraguayan Chaco, driven by both new and existing agricultural frontiers.
• Among the tested policy narratives, Agribusiness scenarios cause the strongest social-ecological impacts, whereas the Integration narrative reduces social impacts and Ecomodernism reduces ecological impacts. Currently, 10% of the Chaco follows a pathway consistent with the Agribusiness narrative.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2024). What is still at stake in the Gran Chaco? https://www.sei.org/publications/what-still-at-stake-gran-chaco/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. What is still at stake in the Gran Chaco? 2024. https://www.sei.org/publications/what-still-at-stake-gran-chaco/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=What is still at stake in the Gran Chaco? |date=27 June 2024 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/what-still-at-stake-gran-chaco/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2024what, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{What is still at stake in the Gran Chaco?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2024}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/what-still-at-stake-gran-chaco/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }