Uncontacted Ayoreo could face health risks as Gran Chaco shrinks, experts warn

Deforestation in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco, driven largely by agribusiness and infrastructure development, poses an increasing threat to the Indigenous Ayoreo people. The communities, living in isolation, risk losing their ancestral lands and customs, and could be exposed to deadly diseases from the outside world, experts warn.

Now a global coalition of Indigenous rights advocates is trying to sound the alarm on the problem, in hopes that the Paraguayan government and international community will respond with more ambitious solutions.

In February, the International Working Group for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (GTI-PIACI) visited northern Paraguay to better understand the threats against the Ayoreo communities, some of whom still live in isolation, without contact with the outside world. The visit was even more concerning than expected, members told Mongabay.

“At any moment, our Ayoreo brothers and sisters in isolation are going to come out,” said Rocío Picaneré, a representative of the Ayoreo Native Council of Eastern Bolivia, which works with GTI-PIACI. “And why is this happening? Because we treat the forest like a supermarket, and the forest is being cleared every day.”

GTI-PIACI is made up of 21 Indigenous organizations and civil society groups focused on addressing the threats against uncontacted peoples living in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazilian Cerrado and Gran Chaco, a dry forest ecosystem that covers approximately 65 million hectares (160 million acres) across Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia. It’s the second-largest forest in South America, after the Amazon, and has suffered some of the world’s worst deforestation, losing around 5.3 million hectares (13.1 million acres) between 2001 and 2021.

The Ayoreo live semi-nomadically between the Paraguayan and Bolivian Gran Chaco, and are believed to be the last uncontacted people in South America outside of the Amazon. Their last contact with the outside world occurred in 2004, when 17 Ayoreo-Totobiegosode emerged from the forest as cattle ranching pastures moved in on their land.

In 2021, some members also secretly contacted their relatives living in the outside world, according to an Ayoreo-Totobiegosode attorney. They approached them at night and expressed their concern about the shrinking forest.

GTI-PIACI said even more Ayoreo could make contact soon if something isn’t done to halt deforestation. The area where the Ayoreo live once covered more than 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres), but has been reduced to a small fraction of that, the working group said in a statement.

“We’re trying to defend the life and food of our brothers and sisters, who are still maintaining their natural way of life in the forest,” said Tagüide Picanerai, a representative of the Payipie Ichadie Totobiegosode Organization, one of the members of the GTI-PIACI. “We’re calling attention to this and urge the authorities to help us, as well.”

In a statement, GTI-PIACI called on the Paraguayan government to assess changes in its land-use plans and evaluate the impact of agrochemicals on drinking water, wildlife preservation and uncontacted communities. It highlighted the harmful effects of pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides that enter the watershed upstream of areas commonly occupied by Indigenous people.

Multiple road projects could also exacerbate the problem, the group said. Officials in Paraguay and Bolivia are collaborating on the Bi-Oceanic Corridor project, which runs some 2,200 kilometers (1,360 miles) through the Chaco, connecting the Atlantic coast of Brazilian with the Pacific coast of Chile.

Part of the project involves a 220-km (137-mi) highway connecting the Bolivian municipality of Roboré in Santa Cruz department with Paraguay’s Agua Dulce in Alto Paraguay department, where numerous clashes between ranchers and Indigenous peoples have taken place. The road will pass through Bolivia’s Ñembi Guasu, officially an “area of conservation and ecological importance.”

“The deforestation from construction is only a small part of the profound changes [roads] will bring to the surrounding area, completely altering the environment and living spaces of uncontacted human groups, as well as the unique flora and fauna of the Gran Chaco,” GTI-PIACI said in a statement.

The uncontacted Ayoreo don’t have vaccinations or natural immunity to diseases common in the rest of the world, putting them at high risk should they be forced to come out of the forest. After a manhunt by missionaries in 1989, several Ayoreo who were captured and forcibly brought out of isolation died from a lung disease resembling tuberculosis, but which was reportedly undetectable during medical examinations.

Many of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode who made contact in 2004 also died from lung diseases.

GTI-PIACI said the Paraguayan government isn’t prepared to handle the health implications of forced contact, partly due to a lack of public resources. The region doesn’t have adequate hospitals or other health care resources to attend to Indigenous people who might fall sick, the working group said.

The Paraguayan Indigenous Institute, which handles all Indigenous affairs in the country, didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article.

In 2016, the Ayoreo began negotiating with the government to obtain land titles and increase protections from the encroaching agricultural frontier. But after dozens of meetings with officials, they pulled out of the negotiations in 2021, citing a lack of progress.

Also in 2016, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights requested that the government of Paraguay take steps to prevent deforestation on Ayoreo territory and create a mechanism to stop outsiders from entering the area. However, many of those measures haven’t been implemented or have failed to adequately address the problem, GTI-PIACI said.

The commission also needs to publish a report about the deaths of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode who came out of the forest in 2004, the working group said.

The commission didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article.

“We raise our alarm at the magnitude of the loss of the Chaco forests and their cultures and call for urgent action to safeguard the rights of the Indigenous population and recover the lost forests,” GTI-PIACI said in its statement.

Banner image: The Chaidi community where around 45 Ayoreo live. Photo by Pánfilo Leguizamón

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