Fragile ecology, tightrope-walking elephants and lost pants in Paraguay

Melanie Kramers

11 March 2011

The Spanish version of '10 Green Bottles' involves an elephant teetering on a spider's web, as I learned this week on an action-packed trip to Paraguay.

And it wasn't the only balancing act we saw. Investigating the impacts of intensive soy farming, we found first-hand a landscape teetering on the brink. A fragile environment being irreparably changed by huge plantations, and the people who live there being deeply hurt.

We saw sad, lonely trees standing in fields where dense forest grew til recently.

And flying low in a tiny plane over the remote Chaco in northern Paraguay, it was shocking to see severe lines carving out new ranches and farms from the forest.

Our guides from Sobrevivencia/Friends of the Earth Paraguay are worried about the consequences of destroying these unique ecosystems.

We're supporting rural communities' efforts to stand up to big business using the legal system. And we're teaching them about planet-friendly farming.

Back in the UK as part of our Fix the Food Chain Campaign, we're trying to stop our meat and dairy industry driving this destruction. The powerful evidence we gathered will help.

Overall, the trip has gone well - though not quite as planned.

Filming outdoors had its distractions. An inquisitive lamb licking our legs, exotic insects biting through clothes and the roars of revving motorbikes drowning out an interview, to name a few.

Arriving at a hostel at 2am because the Google Earth map got it wrong was not on the itinerary. Neither was emergency pants shopping after a bag disappeared in transit.

But it was a good opportunity to learn some new Spanish vocab - and an invaluable experience in working with our international partners.

Plus The Daily Telegraph's environment correspondent came away with plenty of in-depth material to write a powerful story.

Melanie Kramers, Communications and Media Team

Subscribe to this blog by email using Google's subscription service.