The Paraná River delta in eastern Argentina is the only one in the world that is not disappearing, and that is due to deforestation for cultivating soybeans, explains geologist Jorge Codignotto, a former member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in this interview.
"All of the deltas in the world are on the way to disappearing," except for the one formed where the Paraná River runs into the Río de la Plata (River Plate) estuary, said Codignotto, who sat on the IPCC from 1999 to 2007 and has spent years studying Argentina's coastal areas.
"By deforesting the Yungas jungle, in the northwest, in order to grow soybeans, the Bermejo River continues to generate more sediment that ends up in the delta. If that continues, in 2050 the delta will extend to Buenos Aires, and it will be polluted," he said.
This is one example of the factors, in addition to climate change, that affect nearly 5,000 kilometres of shoreline - from the Rio de la ...