Judge Orders Three-Month Suspension of Deforestation in Argentina’s Chaco Province

The decision “took into account ‘the imminent and irreversible damage’ that could be caused to the ecosystem if deforestation continues,” the public prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Monday.

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An Argentinian federal judge on Monday ordered the suspension of deforestation in the northern parts of the Chaco province amid a corruption investigation over illegal land clearance.

The suspension was requested by Patricio Sabadini, federal prosecutor of Resistencia, the capital of Argentina’s Chaco province. It will last for at least three months “or until the situation is re-evaluated” and affect both authorized clearings and the ones that have not yet been carried out, the public prosecutor announced in a statement published on its website on Monday. New clearing permits are also suspended.

The request came amid an investigation involving seven defendants, including business people and local officials and legislators. They stand accused of facilitating and profiting from the “indiscriminate felling of trees” in Chaco and provoking “irreversible damage to the environment and future generations.”

“I take into account the imminent and irreversible damage that could be caused to the ecosystem if the deforestation acts in the territory of this province continue, especially in protected areas, because in the context under analysis, the felling of a tree could mean not only a harm to the global environment but to all living beings in the place – humans and animals – with special relevance to the endangered species that have been mentioned in the request,” said the head of the Federal Court of Resistencia Zunilda Niremperger, who ordered the suspension.

The Gran Chaco is South America’s second-largest forest after the Amazon rainforest, spanning parts of Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. The biome is one of the most deforested areas on the planet with a monthly loss of over 133 square miles (344 square kilometers) primarily for agricultural expansion and livestock grazing.

Globally, around 10 million hectares of forest are deforested every year, roughly the size of Portugal, to make space to grow crops and livestock, and to produce materials such as paper. Forest loss contributes nearly 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, which is equivalent to nearly 10% of annual human emissions.

Destroying forests alters weather patterns, destroys habitats, and negatively affects rural communities, leading to food insecurity and causing irreversible damage to entire ecosystems.