Paraguay
Paraguay is a landlocked country, located in the center of South America, bordering Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. Currently, Paraguay does not have a formal climate change adaptation strategy.
Paraguay’s climate is subtropical to temperate, characterized by a rainy season in summer and a dry season in winter. The mean temperature of Paraguay is 24 degrees Celsius. However, thermal variations exist. The mountains, plateaus and valleys located in the east of the country contribute to a temperate and humid climate, contrasting with the warm, dry tropical climate of the Chaco plain in the west. Substantial rainfall occurs in the eastern region, becoming semiarid in the far west (CIA 2009). Mean annual rainfall in the southeastern region is 1800 millimeters. Mean rainfall in the northwest is 700 millimeters. The river Paraguay divides the country into two environmentally very different regions: the Oriental Region and the Western Region. Paraguay’s terrain consists of grassy plains and wooded hills east of Rio Paraguay, low, marshy plains in the Gran Chaco region west of Rio Paraguay, and dry forest and thorny scrub elsewhere (CIA 2009).
Agriculture, cattle raising, and forestry constitute the base of Paraguay’s economy, representing 16.5 percent, 7.8 percent, and 2.7 percent of Paraguay’s GDP, respectively. Agriculture constitutes the fundamental pillar of Paraguay's economy. Soybean and cotton contribute more than 50 percent of the national exports. As Paraguay is reliant on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, Paraguay’s economy is vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Sources: CIA – The World Factbook. 2009. Paraguay. [online]. Available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pa.html. [8 November 2009] and Paraguay - Executive Summary National Communication - 10 April 2002.
Like most countries in the region, Paraguay has submitted only one National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), laying out the actions that the government has already taken and the analytical basis for its policy response to climate change and its commitment to take future actions within an official international framework. The Communication established the First National GHG Inventory with 1994 as its base year; it includes an analysis of options of mitigation measures, as well as general guidelines on the national strategy to be adopted for the implementation of the climate change convention and a vulnerability evaluation and adaptation options for the agricultural sector.
The Second National Communication6 is currently being developed and it contains, among other, the proposal for a National Mitigation Program, which includes initiatives to reduce GHG emissions through various programs, including through carbon sequestration and substitution programs for the forestry sector.
A National Action Plan on Climate Change is currently being developed. Its mission will be to analyze the priority sectors, such as the forestry and agricultural sector, with the objective to identify and propose general measures aimed at reducing the impact of climate variability and to the mitigation and adaptation of the adverse effects created by this variability. It will serve as a guide for the elaboration of the future national Climate Change Strategy.
Source: World Bank Country Notes on Climate Change Aspects in Agriculture. Accessed on: 24 May 2010 at http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/0,,contentMDK:22077094~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:258554,00.html
For additional information and for the complete Paraguay - Country Note on Climate Change Aspects in Agriculture refer to the World Bank Country Notes.
The Country Notes are a useful tool for organizing in a systematic way the available information on climate change and agriculture in each country. They provide a brief summary of information pertinent to both climate change and agriculture in 19 countries in LAC, with focus on policy developments (action plans and programs), institutional make-up, specific adaptation and mitigation strategies, as well as social aspects and insurance mechanisms to address risk in the sector.