LAND COVER CHANGE IN THE PARAGUAYAN CHACO

The Paraguayan Chaco is a region in South America that is experiencing high conversion rates due to the expansion of cattle ranching. We analyzed the spatial-temporal land cover change between 1995-2014 in the Paraguayan Chaco, and verified whether the legislation is being complied with. We used Landsat 5 and 8 imageries to generate maps of the first and second trajectories of land cover change (1995-2005 and 2005-2014 respectively). Changes in cover almost tripled in the second trajectory, from 0.74% to 1.99%. Historic deforestation in the Central Chaco promoted a disorderly placement of the legally prescribed windbreaks. We believe that the current legislation contributed expressively to a less heterogeneous landscape in the second trajectory. The landscape suffered a high loss of native vegetation over the last years, due to international market pressure for the expansion of croplands and pastures. This pressure also affected legislation and, consequently, landscape patterns.