Land-cover change in the Paraguayan Chaco: 2000–2011

Abstract

Land-use and land-cover change has been a topic that has called the attention of the scientific community for decades. Because of the importance of tropical and subtropical forest ecosystems, investigations into the causes and processes (e.g., underlying and proximate causation) that drive land use and land-cover change have typically concentrated on these regions. Consequently, little work has been done to understand the proximate and underlying drivers of land use and land-cover change in one of the least disturbed forests worldwide, the Paraguayan dry Chaco in South America. This article attempts to fill this gap in the literature by focusing on the processes and drivers behind land-cover change in the Paraguayan Chaco. More specifically, this article links underlying and proximate causes to regional land-cover change. To accomplish this task the study makes use of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and census data. Results show major land-cover changes. Different from other dry regions in South America where soybean expansion has been pointed out as main driver of land-cover change, in the Paraguayan Chaco, cattle ranching is a major driver of forest loss.