The Gran Chaco: Pathways Towards a Sustainable Future

The Gran Chaco, South America's second-largest forest, faces severe deforestation and climate vulnerability driven by unsustainable soy and beef expansion. The report outlines a roadmap to shift from a 'business-as-usual' model to one integrating regenerative agriculture, carbon markets, and tri-national governance to protect its biodiversity and 5.6 million Indigenous inhabitants.

• The Gran Chaco is a critical ecological and cultural region spanning over 1 million square kilometres across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil, supporting over 3,400 plant species and 5.6 million Indigenous People from 27 distinct groups.
• Between 2001 and 2023, the region lost more than 13 million hectares of forest cover, an area larger than England, primarily due to unsustainable agricultural and livestock expansion.
• Climate extremes have caused severe economic losses in the region: a 2021-22 drought in Argentina resulted in $2.67 billion in export losses and a 1% GDP reduction, while 2019 wildfires in Paraguay's Gran Chaco caused approximately $20.9 million in material losses.
• The region is a global hub for food supply chains, with Paraguay's beef exports from the Gran Chaco reaching 67.4% in 2019, and Argentina's Gran Chaco hosting 33% of the national cattle stock.
• Respecting Indigenous land rights is shown to be a highly effective conservation strategy; in Brazil, Indigenous lands lost only 1.2% of native vegetation between 1991 and 2021, compared to 19.9% on private lands.
• Innovative financial mechanisms are being deployed to incentivize conservation, such as Paraguay's 'Green Heart of the Chaco' project, which preserves 32,000 hectares of native forest and generates verified carbon credits.
• Private sector initiatives are shifting toward regenerative models, including Argentina's Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry (ICLF) system and the VISEC platform, which ensures deforestation-free soy and beef production for EU markets.
• Governance in the region is hampered by institutional instability and underfunding; for example, Argentina's Forest Fund has received less than 10% of its legislated budget, and 80% of deforestation in Santiago del Estero was illegal in 2022.
• The report advocates for a 'Pan-Chaco' governance framework, inspired by the Pan-Amazonian experience, to align tri-national strategies across Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay and prevent the displacement of deforestation across borders.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). The Gran Chaco: Pathways Towards a Sustainable Future. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Gran_Chaco_Pathways_Towards_a_Sustainable_Future_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. The Gran Chaco: Pathways Towards a Sustainable Future. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Gran_Chaco_Pathways_Towards_a_Sustainable_Future_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=The Gran Chaco: Pathways Towards a Sustainable Future |date=March 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Gran_Chaco_Pathways_Towards_a_Sustainable_Future_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025gran, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{The Gran Chaco: Pathways Towards a Sustainable Future}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Gran_Chaco_Pathways_Towards_a_Sustainable_Future_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }