World Meeting of the American Chaco
The 6th World Meeting of the American Chaco (EMCHA) was held in Filadelfia, Paraguay, from 2 to 4 October 2025. Under a common slogan: ‘Building the future of the Gran Chaco together, from its peoples and for its peoples’, the event brought together more than 600 participants from four countries that share the Chaco biome: Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and, for the first time, Brazil.
December 2, 2025
The objective of the meeting was to highlight the biocultural and strategic value of the Gran Chaco, the second largest forest in Latin America, and to develop a common agenda to address the challenges facing the region. Participants recognised the Gran Chaco Americano as a global common good, a source of biodiversity, culture and ancestral knowledge, whose conservation must be assumed as a shared responsibility between public, private and community actors.
During the three days of dialogue, it was noted that serious inequalities and a lack of access to rights persist, especially in Indigenous communities, which prevent progress towards equitable and sustainable development. During the event, three areas were agreed upon:
- women’s issues
- indigenous issues, with territory as the primary focus;
- promoting sustainable development through more democratic and cross-border management of the territory, strengthening the participation of local communities, women, and indigenous peoples in decision-making.
