Tech and collaboration are putting indigenous land rights on the map

Dwarfed both in size and fame by the Amazon rainforest, the Gran Chaco, South America’s second largest vegetation complex, is a diverse  mix of thorny dry forest and palm savannahs stretching across the far reaches of Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. It is home to over 150 mammalian species, including the giant armadillo and giant anteater (both currently listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species). The giant anteater, native to South America, is one of numerous mammalian species residing in the Gran Chaco ecoregion. Photo credit: Sémhur, License art libre The Gran Chaco is also home to roughly 250,000 indigenous people, stemming from around twenty different ethnic groups, who are embroiled in a bitter battle to lay claim to their ancestral forested lands – before they disappear. Mapping deforestation and the Gran Chaco Americano The forests and savannahs of the geographically diverse Gran Chaco Americano have been suffering a largely silent extinction – until recently. Expansive clearings for cattle grazing in the Pargauayan Gran Chaco are visible from above. Photo credit: Peer V CC 3.0 Advanced mapping technology is bringing the Chaco into the spotlight. Indigenous groups are digitally mapping their territories in an effort to protect their forests from the encroachment of cattle ranching and soy farming, which threaten both wildlife and indigenous livelihoods. In Paraguay, a game-changer for indigenous communities has been Tierras Indígenas (TI), an interactive map and online platform launched by Paraguay’s Federación por la Autodeterminación de los Pueblos Indígenas/Federation for the…

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