Charcoal and cattle ranching tearing apart the Gran Chaco

Do you know where your charcoal comes from?

A recent investigation by the NGO Earthsight has found that the trees being cleared for cattle ranching in the South American Gran Chaco is ending up as charcoal on the shelves of grocery stores across Europe.

“The clearance of the Chaco forest is one of the largest and fastest losses of natural forest ever seen,” says Sam Lawson, director of Earthsight. At its current deforestation rate, Earthsight estimates that 200,000 hectares could be gone from the Chaco’s forest this year.

This report affirms what S.P.E.C.I.E.S. director Anthony Giordano has seen firsthand of the rapid and extensive clearing and conversion of land in the Gran Chaco. This is threatening the hundreds of bird, mammal, and reptile species that call the Gran Chaco home.

Read more about the impact of charcoal and forest clearing in the Gran Chaco in Mongabay’s recent article, featuring S.P.E.C.I.E.S., here.