Soy, Cotton, and the final Atlantic Forest Frontier.

Peter D. Richards
Michigan State University.

The professional geographer. Volume 63. Number 3.

The deforestation of the worlds tropical rain forests have been and still are a threat to the environment. While no particular forest has been considerably more damaged than the rest, the most predominant is the deforestation of the Atlantic Forest.
The Atlantic Forest once stretched across most of South America, today only a few isolated fragments remain. Only 10% of the original 1.3 million Km^2 remain standing, and over 1,400 of its terrestrial species are endangered. Most of the remaining forest is situated in Paraguay, but this has encountered severe pressure from the agriculture developement.

Throughout this article, the authors state that most of the land that has been destroyed is due to events which ocurred in Southern Brazil or in the Amazon Basin. This article draws on comparative historical analyses and political ecology in its analysis of Paraguay's Atlantic Forest.
Twenty-five percent of the Brazilian Amazon deforestation is due to large-scale agriculture, yet researchers state that it is often smallholder agriculture that are the principal reasons to land cover. However, this research largely depends on the location and the time of analysis.
In the last forty years of Paraguay's political and economical climate, there has been a great expansion of both large scale and smallholder farming systems. This is evident in the high rates of deforestation in Paraguay's Forest. Although the impact due to the smallholders is unclear.

Evolution of principal expot products, 1980-2007

Evolution of principal export products 1961-1979

In Paraguay, riches are produced in green. Agriculture drives the nation's economy. Since 1960, Paraguay's Agriculture has experienced two major changes: a restructuring of the distribution of agricultural land and the emergence of a new hirarchy of export crops. In the second half of the twentieth century most of Parguay's agricultural economy was based on food production; but in the 1980's, cotton, coffe, and tobacco was dwarfed by the economical output of soy. And although cotton generates only about two percent of the national agricultural income, it is still considered the largest employer in the nation.

Areas clasified as small holders and large holders in Paraguay. 1989,2000.

More than three quarters of Paraguay's Forest has been lost in the last four decades. To conserve the remaining Forest, the government and other protection agencies must recognize the ever changing political and economical changes of Paraguay.

Although many laws, such as Paraguays Zero Deforastation Law (2007), have been put into place, the destruction of the forests still continues, and we must act now to stop it.