Plight of Paraguay: Inspiration to Change.

The following is a reflection on one of the talks that I was lucky enough to hear at this years Friends of the Earth Conference. It was my first time and hopefully won't be my last!.


Pablo clicked up a map of Paraguay and its forest cover circa 1980, and next the present cover. A collective gasp, followed by stunned looks of disbelief and mutual recognition of the incomprehensible change in the land.

Watching a country's forest almost completely disappear over 25 years is an astonishing disgrace. Astonishingly terrible efficiency - converting the land to mostly international exports (soy and other non-staple crops)-and disgraceful behaviour at every level by those who have created, sold, planted the crops and poisoned the land.

Pablo Valenzuala is Director of Communications for Friends of the Earth Paraguay (Sobrevivencia). He showed very effectively (even through a translator) the plight of the Atlantic Forest, and of the indigenous people who relied on the land for their livelihood and basic survival.

Survival is the literal translation of Sobrevivencia and, after hearing the talk, you could see the reason for the group’s name. They are literally fighting: for the survival of indigenous people and communities; for what is left of the forest; against the threat of poisoning from herbicides and pesticides imported into the country by the likes of Cargill and Monsanto; and for the wider rights of us all to own our (non-GM) seed.

“Our seed” may sound as unusual to you as to me but it is central to our existence. There is an ongoing battle to resist large corporations that are seeking to profit from destroying diversity and essentially patenting what is left. Nobody or organization should have that level of control and power. Yet it has already begun.

We are both most probably sat within five miles of a Tesco or other supermarket, where a variety of produce sold is already being prescribed. The corporations operating in Paraguay are intent on total market domination of what is grown, and there is more profit in soy exports than a diverse eco-system supporting the climate and crops of those few million Paraguayans. What's there not to love about that?

Sadly, we unwittingly demand this each time we opt for cheap meat - mostly produced using soy feed, which largely comes from South America. You can change this by adapting your eating habits, but also by lobbying your MP to support the Sustainable Livestock Bill at its second reading in the House of Commons on 12th November 2010.

With support it will begin the process of changing the way we rear and feed our livestock, and reduce demand for cheap soy and the destruction of further forest but to do so it is essential MPs are in Parliament on November 12th 2010.Get your MP MOOVING on it!