The problem of jaguars and space in western Paraguay

Researchers use GPS technology and new analytical tools to produce the first rigorous estimates of jaguar spatial needs and movements in the Gran Chaco and Pantanal ecosystems of Paraguay

Date:  March 21, 2018

Source:  De Gruyter

The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas and historically was found from southwestern USA to central Argentina. Today, jaguars are an endangered species throughout their natural habitat, and have almost been completely eliminated from the United States. The species has been lost from 50% of its original range, and outside of the Amazon it is present in only 20% of its original range. This drastic change is a result of human factors: habitat loss leading to reduced prey availability and persecution for cattle depredation.

An important component of jaguar conservation is understanding the species' spatial needs. Although there have been multiple studies of jaguar space use, there has been no such research in Paraguay up to now.

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Paraguay lagoon sees giant lily pads return

Giant lily pads have reappeared in a Paraguay lagoon after being listed as endangered in 2006.

The aquatic plants, their scientific name is Victoria cruziana, appeared in a tributary of the Paraguay river 25km north of Asunción, the capital.

The environment ministry told the Associated Press that the plant had slowly disappeared due to dredging and visitors collecting the plants.

Water lilies in the area are known for their 1.5m size, and exceptional shape.

Their return has drawn a mass of tourists to Piquete Cue in central Paraguay, where they take pictures and pay for boat rides to see the lilies up close.

"I have lived in the area since I was a child. The neighbours and I thought the plant had already become extinct, but it has returned," Antonio Benítez, a local resident, told The Associated Press (in Spanish).

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Spanish tycoon accused of clearing Paraguay’s forests and tribal lands

Company boss named in forgery probe linked to Spanish construction giant

October 2012. According to the charity Survival International, The boss of a company controlled by one of Spain's biggest corporations has been linked to a scandal involving forged signatures in Paraguay. Diego Eduardo León is the vice-President and acting Chairman of South American ranching company Carlos Casado, which is majority-owned by Spanish construction giant Grupo San José.

Carlos Casado ‘owns' a large area of land inside the territory of Paraguay's Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians. The company is already under investigation by local authorities for clearing land without the necessary permits.

Forged signatures
In June Survival International revealed how the Indians' leaders had complained to the government that their signatures had been forged on a supposed ‘agreement' between them and ranchers. The ‘agreement' allowed ranchers to bulldoze an access road through the Indians' forest, which lies between them and the nearest road. In fact, the Indians had refused to sign the deal.

Now Survival claims to have seen government documents naming Diego Eduardo León as a beneficiary of the access road. It appears that, besides his involvement with Carlos Casado, Mr Eduardo León is also connected to two other ranching companies that ‘own' land inside the Ayoreo's territory - Sinha Pora SA and Panambi Pora SA - and these companies' land would have been opened up by the access road.

According to Survival, Carlos Casado and Grupo San José have written identical letters to Survival, denying any illegal activity on Ayoreo land and asserting that their business ‘has created important sources of work for the [local] population'. They have also demanded that Survival remove from its website any mention of Grupo San José, Carlos Casado, or Spanish tycoon Jacinto Rey González (the President of both companies), or face legal action.

Survival's Director Stephen Corry said ‘It's a shame that Carlos Casado and Grupo San José are spending their time threatening Survival, rather than addressing the fact that their land should have been transferred back into Ayoreo hands years ago.'

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/paraguay-forests.html

First camera-trap photos of the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) from the Chaco of Paraguay

 savanna specialist among the forests?

April 2012. The maned wolf is the largest canid species occurring in South America. Not a true wolf but more closely allied to South America's foxes, the maned wolf ranges across the open grassland regions of southern Brazil and eastern Bolivia, south through northern Argentina.

To date only a few detailed ecological studies of the maned wolf exist, and nearly all of these have occurred in Brazil, where the distribution of the species is greatest. Studies have suggested that maned wolves are a near exclusive inhabitant of tropical savannas and mixed grasslands, particularly the ‘Cerrado' ecoregion. However, new evidence indicates that at least in some areas, there is an exception to this rule.

Widespread in the Chaco
"Maned wolves occur throughout many parts of the humid Paraguayan Chaco, which is not surprising given what we know about their natural history," says Anthony J. Giordano, conservation biologist and founder of S.P.E.C.I.E.S., an NGO working to protect carnivore species around the world. "What is surprising however is that we are finding maned wolves in areas of dense, low canopy forest in the Chaco's drier transitional zones."

Giordano and his colleague Dr. Clay Nielsen, an assistant professor of forest wildlife at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, have recently initiated the first ecological study of the maned wolf in the Paraguayan Chaco. Their goal is to determine how habitat type and human-induced changes to the landscape, including land use intensity, interact to influence the local distribution and activity patterns of the species.

"We are looking to model those factors influencing the maned wolf's presence across a landscape of mixed rangeland and natural vegetation," says Dr. Nielsen. "We hope that once our study is complete, our findings can be used to develop local management strategies on private land aimed at increasing suitable habitat for the species."

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/maned-wolf.html

Alarm in Paraguay at settlement plans for Nacunday National Park

Courtesy of Birdlife 

February 2012. Paraguayan environmental organizations including Guyra Paraguay (BirdLife in Paraguay) are alarmed at the recent decision of the national government to actively promote the settlement of small-scale farmers (‘campesinos') within the Ñacunday National Park. The decision to promote a solution which flouts both national legislation and international conventions, sets a worrying precedent for other protected areas in the country.

The 2,000 ha Ñacunday National Park was legally established in 1973, and protects one of the last remnants Atlantic Forest within the Paraná river basin in Paraguay. The area also forms part of the ancestral territory of the southern Aché indigenous group, and the national park is one of the few forest patches left where they can continue their traditional hunter-gatherer culture.

Paraguayan environmental organisations recognise the right of all Paraguayans to own land (a right enshrined in the constitution). There has been a long-standing social conflict in eastern Paraguay which has seen campesinos occupying agricultural areas (soy plantations) in a demand for land. Yet there are reports that substantial areas of unoccupied state-owned land are located in the immediate vicinity of Ñacunday. These are held by the National Institute for Rural Development specifically for small-scale farmer holdings, but it was Ñacunday National Park that has been chosen as a solution to the conflict.

Ñacunday National Park is a key part of plans to safeguard the future of the Atlantic Forest and the important natural resources it provides. The Paraguayan government recently received a donation from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to re-establish connectivity between the park and other protected areas through an innovative "exchangeable rights" reforestation and forest protection scheme.

Ñacunday National Park forms the core of the "Atlantic Forest lowlands" Endemic Bird Area in Paraguay (EBA075). Once home to species such as the Critically Endangered Brazilian Merganser Mergus octosetaceus and Glaucous Macaw Anodorhynchus glaucus, virtually none of this forest type now remains in Paraguay.

In addition to its importance for biodiversity conservation, the National Park includes the Ñacunday falls, and protects the lower reaches of the river of the same name. The falls and the surrounding park are recognised as an important "tourism resource" in the Master Plan for the Development of the Tourism Sector in Paraguay.

The establishment of a campesino community in Ñacunday National Park will undoubtedly lead to the loss of the park's forests and the wildlife and human communities that depend on them. Furthermore, it represents the loss of one of the last opportunities to connect San Rafael (an IBA and one of the most important forest blocks remaining in the country) with the more extensive Atlantic Forest in Misiones Province, Argentina.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/paraguay-settlement.html