Welcome to Paracel
The Future of Forestry
Paracel is a pioneering landscape project in Concepción, Paraguay, producing carbon removals and a working forest to support a region.
Mosaic Approach
Paracel combines three types of forestry project in a mosaic approach, marrying sustainable forestry practices with conservation and restoration areas.
We use state-of-the-art technology to provide advanced visibility and transparency of our carbon and biodiversity benefits.
The project is pioneering scale in carbon removals and meets key governance and operational standards including FSC’s sustainable forestry practices.
We will have captured
1.3m
tonnes of CO2e
We will have captured
26m
tonnes of CO2e
We aim to remove* over
50m
tonnes of CO2e
That’s over
800k
car trips from Cairo to Cape Town
That’s more than
15m
flights from NYC to Tokyo
That’s approximately
2 years
of LA’s CO2e emissions
*Refers to carbon unit generation forecast
Technology Driven
Digital MRV for transparency and tracking
To maximize confidence in Paracel’s performance, we have partnered with best-in-class providers of digital monitoring, reporting, and verification who will monitor the project’s progress on an ongoing basis.
These providers will do so by capturing data at the spatial level from multiple sources including high-resolution satellite and drone images.
Consequently they can transparently monitor the forestry operations and provide quality data for carbon performance quantification, as well as risk of reversals like fire and beyond.
The project will have a positive impact on the Paraguayan economy at both the national and local community levels.
Job Creation
We are creating 40,000 jobs in the region
In contrast to the majority of work available in the region, the new jobs created by Paracel offer long-term, formal employment opportunities for the people of Concepción, including healthcare entitlement and a pension. As of 2023, more than 1,600 people are already working on the project. Overall, it is estimated the project will create:
4,000 direct jobs, such as forestry workers
16,000 indirect jobs, such as transport providers
20,000 indirect-indirect jobs, such as supermarket workers
Sustainable Development
The Future of Forestry
Paracel will be the largest industrial development and, at approximately $4 billion, the largest private investment in Paraguay's history.
The project kickstarts a new working forestry sector in the region with a brand new, sustainable pulp mill at its heart– the only large-scale mill of its kind in the country. The mill creates an economic engine which supports much of the developmental and forestry work of the project.
It offers formalized employment to thousands, and its operational longevity means that it can meet the needs of a developing community for generations. It also promotes harmony with nature, using the nearby plantations to create sustainable, FSC-certified paper products – reducing reliance on plastics and encouraging sustainable forestry.
Impact
10% of carbon revenue reinvested
As a key part of our commitment to ongoing positive impact, 10% of all carbon revenues from Paracel will be reinvested in the local community and further conservation programmes.
Impact
4x increase in the median income of local families
The department of Concepción has one of the highest poverty rates in Paraguay. The economic opportunities created by Paracel are tangibly improving this, quadrupling the median income of families in the area.
Our groundbreaking landscape approach will have an overall positive impact on the region’s biodiversity and restoration of its native ecosystems.
Label
A net positive strategy for biodiversity
Paracel has a forestry management plan that balances native ecosystem restoration with sustainable forestry.
It ensures high-value conservation areas are preserved and prioritized, as we regenerate the heavily degraded landscapes.
The project’s conservation and restoration of native ecosystems, implementation of ecological corridors, and organization of training programmes and patrols to deter illegal activities all create considerable benefits.
As a result, Paracel has applied for Verra’s Verified Carbon Standards (VCS) and Climate, Community, & Biodiversity Standards (CCB) certification.
Wildlife
The native wildlife of Cerrados de Concepción
Paracel is playing an important role in the conservation of the region’s wildlife – including many threatened, vulnerable, and endangered species.
Wildlife
Red-and-green Macaw
(Ara chloropterus)
IUCN Global Status Least Concern
National Status Endangered
Seen in Rancho Z
Pampas Deer
(Ozotoceros bezoarticus)
IUCN Global Status Near Threatened
National Status Endangered
Seen in Santa Teresa
Cock-tailed Tyrant
(Alectrurus tricolor)
IUCN Global Status Vulnerable
National Status Endangered
Seen in Santa Teresa
White-throated Piping Guan
(Pipile grayi)
IUCN Global Status Near Threatened
National Status Threatened with Extinction
Seen in Soledad
Pantanal Cat
(Leopardus braccatus)
IUCN Global Status Near Threatened
National Status Insufficient Data
Seen in Gavilán
Azara’s Capuchin
(Sapajus cay)
IUCN Global Status Vulnerable
National Status Insufficient Data
Seen in Hermosa
Approach
Biodiversity: a multifaceted approach
Approach Benefits
Flora & Fauna
The first step in implementing a net gain strategy is to fully understand the ecosystem’s baseline – something we have been working on since the beginning of the project and will finalize this year with a science-based Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).
Paracel’s primary benefit to the region’s wildlife is through the conservation and restoration of natural habitats - savannahs as well as forests - and by maintaining thousands of hectares of ecological corridors that sustain the biodiversity connected in the landscape.
Approach Benefits
Soil
New plantations are occuring on degraded landscapes that have been used for agriculture for many years and so soil quality, alongside overall biodiversity, is depleted.
As the project site contains multiple different areas with variation in the properties of the soil, we have taken a microplanning approach to ensure appropriate use of the land at a granular level.
Approach Benefits
Hydrology
We have carefully considered the hydrological impact of our activities, including planning around our use of trees.
Our approach is to generate the minimum possible impact on water resources through the conservation of riparian forests and savannahs that buffer the potential impact on streams and maintain water quality.
Most importantly, plantation activities will be avoided in wetland areas due to their ecological significance and sensitivity.
What makes Paracel’s impact possible is the sheer scale of the project across multiple dimensions.
Site Area
193,149 hectares – and counting
As of January 2024, the entire Paracel project area is over 190,000 hectares large – with over 50% of that land dedicated to new forest plantation, and the remaining dedicated to conservation and restoration.
In coming years new portions of land may be added either through ownership or working with third-party landholders, increasing the size further, up to a possible 500,000ha.
Site Area
Our site area is already 25% larger than Greater London
Today’s Paracel site is enormous – it is approximately 25% larger than Greater London. And, as new parcels of land are added in the future, it will continue to grow.
Afforestation
We are planting 160,000,000 new trees
With over 50% of the Paracel land used for afforestation, we plan to plant over 160 million trees.
