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Alto Paraguay (; ''Upper Paraguay'') is the least populous as well as a sparsely populated department of
Alto Paraguay contains many natural resources, so is home to several
Paraguay's largest reserves of undeveloped fertile forest and lowest land prices are found in Alto Paraguay. Agriculture and cattle farming have started to make inroads. The fertility of the Chaco's deep sedimentary soils is generally high, except in the westernmost parts, where there are very sandy soils, and in the eastern plain where there are some seasonal wetlands. Annual rainfall is sufficient in the east (around 1200 mm), fair in the center (around 900 mm) and scarce in the west (around 700 mm). A lack of infrastructure and roads is the primary limitation for farmers in the area.
Current agricultural expansion comes at the expense of the area's native forests. During the two decades between 1990 and 2010, Paraguay had one of the highest
Dirección General de Estadística, Encuestas y Censos : ''Censo : Lista de Áreas de Variables de Personas''
Retrieved 5 March 2010 # Bahía Negra #
Alto Paraguay Info
{{Authority control States and territories established in 1992
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
. The capital is the town of Fuerte Olimpo.
In 1992, the Chaco Department was merged with Alto Paraguay.
Nature and national parks
Alto Paraguay contains many natural resources, so is home to several national parks
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
, each with different characteristics. The Defensores del Chaco National Park is the largest in the Paraguayan territory and holds the hill Cerro León, the highest point in northern Paraguay. The dry terrain optimally grows various species of cactus
A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...
. Parque Nacional Río Negro is an area with several small lakes and most of the department's fauna
Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...
. In the dry regions are Parque Nacional Coronel Cabrera and Parque Nacional Chovoreca.
Agriculture, livestock and deforestation
Paraguay's largest reserves of undeveloped fertile forest and lowest land prices are found in Alto Paraguay. Agriculture and cattle farming have started to make inroads. The fertility of the Chaco's deep sedimentary soils is generally high, except in the westernmost parts, where there are very sandy soils, and in the eastern plain where there are some seasonal wetlands. Annual rainfall is sufficient in the east (around 1200 mm), fair in the center (around 900 mm) and scarce in the west (around 700 mm). A lack of infrastructure and roads is the primary limitation for farmers in the area.
Current agricultural expansion comes at the expense of the area's native forests. During the two decades between 1990 and 2010, Paraguay had one of the highest deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...
rates worldwide. The World Land Trust
World Land Trust is a UK registered charity. Acting on its tagline of "Saving Land, Saving Species", the trust raises money to buy and then protect environmentally-threatened land, and therefore species, in Africa, Asia, and Central and South A ...
estimated 2008 deforestation in the Paraguay Chaco was over 200,000 hectares.
The department's most important activity is cattle ranching, extensive in the savannas of the east and intensive on the planted pastures of cleared land. Cultivation of sorghum, sugar cane and (in planning stage as of January 2009, for the arid west) jatropha
''Jatropha'' is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. The name is derived from the Greek words ἰατρός (''iatros''), meaning "physician", and τροφή (''trophe''), meaning "nutrition", hence the common name ph ...
are very recent developments.
Districts
The department is divided into five districts:Retrieved 5 March 2010 # Bahía Negra #
Capitán Carmelo Peralta
Capitán Carmelo Peralta, commonly known as Carmelo Peralta, is a Paraguayan city and district situated on the banks of the Paraguay River, on the border with Porto Murtinho, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, approximately 716 km from Asunción, in the ...
# Fuerte Olimpo
# Puerto Casado
See also
* List of high schools in Alto ParaguayReferences
External links
Alto Paraguay Info
{{Authority control States and territories established in 1992