The London-based World Land Trust (WLT) will jointly share responsibility for a single expanse of the Chaco Boreal (or Northern Chaco) with Guyra Paraguay. Under the initiative, WLT plans to create a £10million fund to ensure the area’s long-term protection.

But, according to a spokesperson for WLT, this isn’t eco-colonialism: ‘WLT will only be providing funding and expertise under the initiative to enable Guyra Paraguay and other local NGOs it engages with to carry out the management of this valuable land, employing local people.’

The Chaco Boreal is a region of distinctive vegetation occupying about 259,000 square kilometres across northwestern Paraguay, southeastern Bolivia, and northern Argentina. Despite being a relatively hostile, dry environment, it’s home to rare wildlife such as the giant peccary and fairy armadillo. The WLT has worked with Guyra Paraguay since 2005, when it first established a programme of land purchases to create a network of private nature reserves. Most of the land outside Paraguay’s national parks is privately owned, and the remaining forests are seriously threatened by the rapid expansion of agriculture.

September 08