Photography in Paraguay

Glyn Thomas

03 May 2011

I recently finished going through all my photos from our recent fact-finding trip to Paraguay.

I was amazed to discover I'd taken more than 6,000 on our whistle-stop tour of the country.

And looking back over the photos reminded me just how it had been both depressing and inspirational in equal measure.

Depressing to see how much forest has already been lost for growing soy animal feed - and to see deforestation happening right now, much of it illegally. And upsetting to hear the stories of people who have been either moved off their land or been made ill as a result of pesticide spraying.

I'd heard about the impacts of growing soy in Paraguay through Friends of the Earth's Fix the Food Chain campaign - but nothing prepares you for seeing first-hand the impacts on the landscape and on people's lives.

But at the same time the trip was inspiring. Firstly, to see so many local people speaking out in the face of real pressure from soy farmers to keep quiet.

And I wasn't really prepared for how beautiful (soy monocultures aside) the country would look. Our colleagues from Friends of the Earth Paraguay/Sobrevivencia will testify how we screeched to a stop time after time for me to take yet another landscape shot.

Photographing deforestation in the Chaco, one of the world's last great wildernesses, from a small plane circling and swooping over the trees was definitely one of the most challenging assignments I've ever had.

Trying to hold the camera steady in heavy turbulence - and trying not to be sick - is not an experience I'd recommend.

But it really brought home to me just how precious the remaining area of forest is - it's vital that we protect it.

And the highlights? Being able to give to Paraguay's environment minister the GPS coordinates of some of the areas where logging is going on.

And bringing the stories of these incredible people and their struggle to you.

We'll be posting  more pictures soon.

Glyn Thomas, Campaigns team