Defying soy producers

Project goal: preserving biodiversity by preventing loss of the rainforest. Together with local producers, indigenous communities and towns, a national REDD+ plan (to reduce emissions arising from deforestation and forest degradation) is to be formulated

Area: the Pantanal region, one of the world’s biggest and most diverse wetlands in the Atlantic rainforest in Paraguay

Size: six pilot projects are meant to help people develop alternative sources of income so that trees aren’t cut and further forest destruction is prevented

Investment: around 2.1 million Euros by the International Climate Initiative (IKI)

The Aché are a traditional hunter-gatherer tribe in Paraguay. They live off the forests around them. The tribe see themselves as an integral part of their natural surroundings. But making a living is becoming increasingly difficult as their population grows. At the same time, the soya industry is increasingly encroaching on their territory, offering them money to vacate their land. Around 90 percent of the Atlantic rainforest in Paraguay has already been cut down to make way for livestock and industrial farming. A team led by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is helping the Ache protect their habitat and way of life by helping them grow traditional Yerba Mate, that helps to regenerate the soil, and is processed into tea. That's helping generate alternative sources of income for the community.

A film by Anja Kimmig