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By Lucila Sigal
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An Argentine federal judge on Monday ordered a three-month suspension of deforestation in northern Chaco province, a rare step to protect one of the world's woodland ecosystems that is most rapidly being destroyed to make way for farmland.
The unusual though not unprecedented move, announced officially on the public prosecutor's office website, comes amid an investigation into an alleged public-private corruption scheme involving both business people and local officials profiting from illegal land clearance.
The province of Chaco is part of the American Gran Chaco, the largest forested region in South America after the Amazon and spans between Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil. It has some of the worst deforestation rates in the world.
This dry forest ecosystem is home to a wide range of wildlife, including jaguars, foxes, manned wolves, ocelots, tapirs, armadillos, capybaras and pumas, among others.
Prosecutors are investigating former and current local officials along with major companies, especially in the grains sector, for making illegal profits, abuse of authority and failure to fulfill the duties of public officials.
"The judge ordered the total suspension of clearing in the province of Chaco," said Enrique Viale, president of the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers (AAdeAA), which brought the initial complaint.
"This will ensure that environmental damage is not caused while the investigation is carried out. We will continue until we dismantle this land-clearing mafia and stop deforestation."
The main economic activities of Chaco province, which has an area of about 100,000 square km (24.7 million acres), are forestry, soy and cattle, cotton production, firewood and tannins.
The Chaco government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to data from NGO Fundación Vida Silvestre (Forest Life Foundation), despite Argentina having a Forest Protection Law, the Gran Chaco has lost 30% of its forests, with 76% of the deforestation carried out illegally between 2007 and 2021.
(Reporting by Lucila Sigal; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Sandra Maler)
