Paraguay Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

deforestation; water pollution; rivers suffer from toxic dumping; tanneries release mercury and chromium into rivers and streams; loss of wetlands; inadequate means for waste disposal pose health risks for many urban residents

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Nuclear Test Ban, Tropical Timber 2006

Climate

subtropical to temperate; substantial rainfall in the eastern portions, becoming semiarid in the far west

Land use

agricultural land: 53.8% (2018 est.)

arable land: 10.8% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.2% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 42.8% (2018 est.)

forest: 43.8% (2018 est.)

other: 2.4% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 63.1% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 1.64% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

1.21% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 12.31 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 7.41 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 27.65 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 1,818,501 tons (2015 est.)

Major rivers (by length in km)

Río de la Plata/Paraná (shared with Brazil [s], Argentina, and Uruguay [m]) - 4,880 km; Paraguay river mouth (shared with Brazil [s] and Argentina) - 2,549 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Paraná (2,582,704 sq km)

Major aquifers

Guarani Aquifer System

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 360 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 150 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 1.9 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

387.77 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)