Agriculture in Paraguay's dry Chaco is turning the vast virgin forest into bleak prairie-style farmland. These images on our recent fact-finding trip reveal the true picture.

Farmers and ranchers are hacking into the second largest South American forest outside the Amazon. Their spread is threatening the jaguars, rare species and some of the world's last uncontacted people, the Ayoreo, who call it home.

Stark clumps of trees are a token nod to the 25% of forest legally required to remain on each cleared plot. The region's remoteness and a lack of Government resources mean  deforestation is difficult to check.

About 1 million hectares, or nearly 10%, of the dry forest in northern Paraguay has been cleared in just 4 years by ranchers using fire, chains and bulldozers.