“All signs show that Paraguay, both its territory and its
population, are under attack by conquerors, but conquerors of a new
sort. These new ‘conquistadors’ are racing to seize all available arable
land and, in the process, are destroying peoples’ cultures and the
country’s biodiversity — just as they are in many other parts of the
planet, even in those areas that fall within the jurisdiction of
‘democratic’ and ‘developed’ countries. Every single foot of land is in
their crosshairs. Powerful elites do not recognize rural populations as
having any right to land at all.”
Dr. Miguel Lovera (from the case study: The Environmental and Social Impacts of Unsustainable Livestock Farming and Soybean Production in Paraguay. Dr. Lovera was the President of SENAVE, the National Plant Protection Agency, during the government of Fernando Lugo.)
The major injustices toward the land and the
people in Paraguay are large-scale genetically modified (GM) soy
production by multinational corporations and deforestation due to
unsustainable livestock production.
The expansion of soybeans and cattle in Paraguay is based on the
theft of peasant and aboriginal communities’ land holdings and ancestral
lands.
The key common characteristic underlying all large-scale rural
production in Paraguay is that it is based on massive illegal land
grabbing.
Soybeans are produced on the fertile soils of eastern Paraguay, the best soils in the country.Most of the soy grown in Paraguay is
Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready transgenic variety. Other U.S. transnational
corporations involved in the soy business are Cargill and Archer Daniels
Midland (ADM).
And the main environmental implication of the growth of intensive cattle ranching is deforestation.
The Chaco region is where most of the deforestation is being
undertaken today to create pasture and establish cattle ranches. In
2013, 268,000 ha of forest were destroyed in the Chaco. Deforestation
rates in this region were the highest in the world in 2013, reaching up
to 2,000 ha/day.
The production of beef for export markets by very large-scale,
predominantly Brazilian (70% of the meat export facilities are in
Brazilian hands) cattle ranchers are by far the main cause of
deforestation and indigenous land grabbing in the Chaco.
The Ayoreo Indigenous People of the Chaco have been in the way of development and many have been captured and confined to to “concentration camp” settlements.
Many parts of the Chaco (and other areas South of the Amazon) are far too remote and isolated to explore in detail so the possibility is high that there are additional communities living in voluntary isolation.
The Ayoreo Indigenous People of the Chaco have been in the way of development and many have been captured and confined to to “concentration camp” settlements.
Many parts of the Chaco (and other areas South of the Amazon) are far too remote and isolated to explore in detail so the possibility is high that there are additional communities living in voluntary isolation.
The technological approaches driven by the Green Revolution, now
including genetically modified seeds and pesticides, have caused
degradation of the fertile lands and loss of biodiversity across the
country and the indiscriminate use of agrochemicals.
“An island surrounded by land” is how Paraguay is sometimes described partly because it is one of the two land-locked countries in the Western hemisphere (the other is Bolivia), but also because of its distinctive history and politics. Paraguay’s economic activity centers on agriculture and livestock, and in terms of land tenure presents the most unequal and unfair case of distribution worldwide.
Livestock and soy production (almost wholly of Monsanto’s Round Up Ready transgenic variety) are the most important primary production sectors. Most of the land in the country is privately controlled and devoted to these two commodities. Hence, most of the negative environmental and social impacts derive from these two activities. A vast proportion, about 96%, of the soybeans cultivated in Paraguay are destined for export as livestock feed. A majority of the cattle slaughtered each year in the country are also exported, with most of this trade controlled by a handful of multinational companies that form an oligopoly not only in Paraguay, but around the world.
from here with photos
FWIW, I do mot think Bolivia & Paraguay are the only two landlocked in the Western Hemisphere. But I'm really more concerned about the establishment of a world without countries, one in which the vast majority of the 'problems' described in this blog will be history.
ReplyDeleteYes, a world without countries, no borders, where all can travel freely. One of our aims here is, as I think you implied, to bring attention, repeatedly, to the innate problems of capitalism in order to hasten the collective will to abolish the capitalist system.
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