Across the landscapes we visited, we documented large agribusinesses bulldozing and burning thousands of hectares of the extraordinary ecosystem known as the Gran Chaco, a 110-million hectare region spanning Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The dry woodlands of the Chaco are one of the largest remaining continuous tracts of native vegetation in South America, second in size only to the great Amazon rainforest.

The forests of the Gran Chaco are home to a vibrant community of indigenous peoples, such as the Ayoreo, Chamacoco, Enxet, Guarayo, Maka'a, Manjuy, Mocoví, Nandeva, Nivakle, Toba Qom, and Wichi. Many are still hunter-gatherers and completely dependent on the forest. One of the of the most vulnerable groups are the Ayoreo indigenous people, some of which remain uncontacted. They are dependent upon the Chaco forest to survive and particularly vulnerable, given that when contact happens, it is almost always violent.

The Gran Chaco is highly biodiverse and home to many endemic species. It was once the impenetrable stronghold of almost magical creatures like the screaming hairy armadillo (a real animal), the famous jaguar, and the giant anteater.

But American soy companies like Cargill and Bunge have infiltrated these frontiers, bulldozing and burning these habitats to make way for vast fields of genetically modified soy. However, the Chaco’s harsh climate isn’t naturally suited for vast monocultures. As a result, soy grown here is genetically modified and requires vast amounts of chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides like the herbicide glyphosate. These too are transforming the Chaco. Waterways have become polluted, and local community members report a surge in birth defects, cancers, and respiratory illnesses. Even their pets and livestock are feeling the impacts - many families have reported that their animals have died due to this herbicide exposure.

Over the last two decades, the forests of the Chaco have experienced some of the world’s highest rates of conversion to agriculture, primarily for soybean farming and cattle ranching. In fact, the Chaco forests are being lost at rates matching or exceeding those of rainforests — even the Amazon. More than eight million hectares of the Chaco have been cleared over just a dozen years. The total emissions associated with the conversion of Chaco forest and grasslands to croplands and pasture is estimated to be 3,024 million metric tons of carbon dioxide between 1985 and 2013, more than four times Germany’s carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion in 2015.

This trend has been accelerating. Argentina alone lost 22 percent of its forests between 1990 and 2015, mostly to establish soy farms. Most of this deforestation is concentrated in the northern part of the Chaco in the provinces of Santiago del Estero, Salta, Formosa and Chaco, which together account for 80% of the total deforestation. Argentina passed a forest protection law in 2009, which requires that at least 0.3 percent of the total national budget goes towards forest law enforcement. However, the funds assigned by the Argentine Congress in 2016 for forest protection were 23 times less than what is required.

Over the past several years, Paraguay has frequently been ranked as having one of the highest deforestation rates globally. In 2017, President Horacio Cartes issued a decree (criticized by many as illegal) that allowed landowners to clear all of the forest on their property, which accelerated the rate of deforestation in the Chaco.

Poor governance coupled with large-scale expansion of soy is causing deforestation that according to experts is threatening “the equilibrium between humans, animals and the environment.” A recent study from Humbolt University estimates that more than half of all birds and 30 percent of all mammals found in the Chaco today will be extinct in 10-25 years if strong conservation measures are not implemented.

Other ecosystems have also felt the brunt of this unnecessary deforestation. Agricultural interests have cleared an estimated 98% of Paraguay’s Atlantic Forest. The zero deforestation law of 2004 prohibits deforestation in the eastern parts of Paraguay until 2018, as well as the conversion of forests into agricultural or livestock production. Without sanctions or consequences for this illegal clearance, the deforesters face few obstacles in converting valuable forests to soy fields.