The Gran Chaco Pathways Towards a Sustainable Future 2025

3Unsustainable practices weaken Gran Chaco’s ecosystem and productivity The expansion of unsustainable agriculture across the Gran Chaco is impacting traditional livelihoods, challenging the biome’s critical ecosystem services and influencing its long-term productive capacity. 3.1 Historical significance, cultural and demographic diversity The Gran Chaco is home to a diverse population shaped by its environmental conditions and historical settlement processes,29 heavily influenced by water availability and climate. Human presence in the region dates back roughly 7,000 years, when Indigenous Peoples developed a culture based on hunting, fishing, gathering and, to a lesser extent, agriculture. For traditional peoples such as the Qom and Guaraní, the territory holds profound cultural and religious significance, serving as a sacred space connected to their beliefs, knowledge and spiritual practices.30 Today, the Gran Chaco is home to over 9 million people,31 including 5.6 million Indigenous People from 27 distinct groups, with settlement patterns and cultural landscapes varying across the biome, as shown in Map 4. Bolivia has the largest such demographic, with 41% of its population identifying as Indigenous, while Argentina and Paraguay report lower proportions, around 3%. These figures reflect historical processes such as colonization and assimilation, which shaped demographic distributions across the region.32 Within the Gran Chaco, Paraguay stands out for its significant Indigenous presence, with Indigenous Peoples comprising 46% of the total population of 100,000 in the region. The majority reside in the departments of Alto Paraguay, Boquerón and Presidente Hayes, highlighting the biome’s importance as both a cultural and demographic hub in this country.33,34,35 Today, the Gran Chaco is home to over 5.6 million Indigenous People from 27 distinct groups. 25 The Gran Chaco: Pathways Towards a Sustainable Future