Environmental Policy in Paraguay Sebastian Acha, National
Representative, Paraguay Over the past 60 years widespread and
uncontrolled deforestation practices have plagued Paraguay’s
Region Oriental, the eastern region of this South American
country. In 1945, 8.8 million hectares (21,745,273 acres) of
forest covered this region, but today less than 1.6 million
hectares (3,953,686 acres) remain. People worldwide frequently
focus on the Amazon Rainforest, but the once great Atlantic
Forest has been quietly ignored. This forest track formerly
extended from coastal eastern Brazil through southern Brazil
into the Alto Parana region of eastern Paraguay and then into
northern Argentina. Sadly, the Atlantic Forest is one example
where irrational destruction has resulted in indiscriminate
cutting over the past halfcentury. Optimistic estimates say that
only 8 percent of the forest remains in Paraguay. In Alto
Paraguay, located in the western part of the country’s Chaco
region, river and creek pollution is yet another m