ASUNCION, (Reuters) – More than 40 percent of Paraguay’s indigenous communities are landless and many of those who have with homes are being displaced by a rapid expansion in soybean farming and cattle-ranching, a United Nations official said yesterday.
The South American country’s economy has expanded quickly, but at the cost of destroying forests and polluting rivers that are essential to the culture of native tribes, which make up about 2 percent of Paraguay’s 6.3 million population.
“Almost half of the indigenous communities lack land, even when their land has been titled in their name,” said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. “Land security is not guaranteed.”
She spoke to reporters in the capital city of Asuncion at the end of a week-long investigation.
Paraguay now exports more beef than neighboring commodities and it is the world’s No. 4 soybean exporter, with a 2014-15 crop expected at about 10 million tonnes.
But Tauli-Corpuz said the rapid expansion of cattle and farming land is crowding out native communities.
“Members of the communities have informed me of the invasion of land by agro-business, commodities companies and cattle ranchers, among others,” Tauli-Corpuz said.
“People who have always lived in forests must have forests in order to maintain their culture and religion,” she added.
