Paraguay - Railway Complex and English Village of Sapucai

Located 90km from the capital Asuncion, the town of Sapucai is known for its fascinating railway complex. The town of Sapucai was constructed between 1887 and 1894, and became not just a station on the line, but a place where the steam locomotive trains were repaired and constructed.

The history of the railway in Paraguay goes way back in the mid nineteenth century when the construction of the railway was issued by the government of Carlos Antonio Lopez, who hired British engineers to be in charge. The main aim was to unite surrounding villages and the interior with the capital city in order to facilitate the marketing of natural resources of the country. This railway system was one of the first railway lines to be laid down in the region, and it has also been said that it was on this railway line that the first ever train journey took place in South America. It was on 14th June 1861 that the first train made its journey from the central station in Asuncion.

Paraguay - Paraguayan Pantanal

This site has been designated as a Wetlands of International Importance (known also as Ramsar site) under the Convention of Wetlands of International Importance. This place is globally important due to the transition between the Chaco, Pantanal, Amazonas and Atlantic Forest (BAAPA) ecosystems. It is also an Important Bird Area (IBA), due to 22 migratory bird species (most of them neartics migrants) use the site as a stopover place. The Paraguayan Pantanal is equally important for the conservation of charismatic mammals, such as the Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), Marsh Deer (Blastocerus dichotomus), Puma (Puma concolor), Jaguar (Panthera onca), Giant Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus) and the Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla). Most of these mammals are considered in some category of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (www.iucnredlist.org). The area’s forests include species such as White Quebracho, Samu’û, and many cacti. The Red Quebracho, Yvyra Ita, Palo Blanco and Labón characterize the transition area between the Chaco and Pantanal. Historically, threats to biodiversity have been few, but recent cattle ranching activities have begun to create new pressures.

Paraguay - Pte. Carlos Antonio López Railroad System

The system was inaugurated in 1861 and also includes the laying of roads of that time, workshops, machinery and accessories that are driven by the parent figure of a boiler, water systems by gravity, communication systems of the last century - telefono to magneto and telegrafo, the locomotives to steam and movable and immovable goods - stations and architectonic sets of some ferroviary towns - and its route constitutes a route by zones of great paisajistico value.

Paraguay - Tinfunke' National Park

El protected area ecosistema del Chaco humedo asi como at the historic sites of the Guerra del Chaco (1932 - 1935) between Paraguay and Bolivia. El Parque fue creado by Decreto No. 18.205, el 4 de mayo from 1956 constituted an important refugio for the breeding of wild fauna.

Paraguay - Ybyturuzu National Park

The area has a large pool of cuanto a flora y fauna, arqueologicos restaurants, cuevas y abrigos con pinturas rupestres in bajo and alto relieve.

Paraguay - Mbaracayú Forest Nature Reserve

The Mbaracaya Forest Nature Reserve (MFNR) consists of 64,405.7 hectares, located in the eastern region of Paraguay near the Brazilian border, an area with small landholdings and numerous cattle rancHng establishments in the Mbaracaya Range (Karapa). In the east there are various properties, ranches and two indigenous communities of different ethnic partialities, and in the south and east, there are farms of varying sizes. Mbaracaya is located within the humid subtropical forest of eastern Paraguay, part of the Interior Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil, northeastern Argentina and eastern Paraguay. It is the largest continuous remnant of the IAF in Paraguay. The annual average temperature is between 21'C to 22°C, and the total annual precipitation is 1,800 mm. The Mbaracaya Range runs northeast/southeast, crossing the northeastern corner of the Reserve. This area is composed of numerous small, but deep, valleys with recurrent waterfalls creating hundreds of small tributaries towards the Jejui River basin.

Paraguay - Yerba Mate Cultural Landscape

 The Yerba Mate Cultural Landscape (PCYM) is a landscape that through its four zones rescues the productive systems and cultural processes associated with the production of yerba mate. Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a product of cross-cutting consumption in the culture and economy of Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. It is also consumed in the Latin American region and has recently been exported to European and Asian countries.

Paraguay - Templo San Buenaventura de Yaguaron

Located 60 km outside of Asuncion, Templo San Buenaventura in the historical town Yaguaron is a well-preserved example of the colonial Franciscan Reductions of Paraguay. The Franciscan reductions, or missions, were some of the first Catholic institutions in the region and their effects can still be seen today. Their towns "reduced" the originally nomadic natives to fixed areas allowing the missionaries to better control and catechize them, while teaching them to read and write, to cultivate the land, to domesticate animals, and to create artistic works. This method of "reducing" indigenous peoples to religious and civil life was mainly carried out by both the Franciscans and the Jesuits, yet each order had their own strategies to impose a new way of life on the Guaranis in religion, economic systems, language, and culture.

Paraguay - Rock Art of Jsukaevnda and Cerro Corá

The three rock shelters of Jasukavenda (Cerro Guasu): Itaguy Guasu, Itaguy Miri, Itaguy'i: Akua 1, Akua2

The existing rock shelters inside Cerro Corá National Park: Alambique/Amba, Tujao 1, Tujao2

The rock art in Paraguay are primarily petroglyphs, or rock carvings, in the so-called "footprints style", which consists of both zoomorphic and anthropomorphic representations. Almost all carvings in Paraguay were made with lithic technology and represent geometric, human and celestial figures. This style of engraving generally leaves deep and wide images (one centimeter or more) due to the repetition of hard rock flakes like silicified sandstone on softer sedimentary sandstone. These petroglyphs have been identified by archaeologists in rock shelters located in the mountain ranges of Yvytyrusu (Guairá Department) and Amambay (Department of Amambay). There are reports of rock art in other parts of the country, but these sites have not been officially inventoried yet.

Paraguay - Médanos del Chaco National Park

 The National Park Médanos del Chaco was created by Executive Power Decree No. 21,957 / 2003 with the mission of protecting the biodiversity of the area, a mixture of xerophytic ecosystems (forest, scrub, savannah, among others), endemic species of flora and fauna, the formation of paleo dunes as well as species of phytogenetic resources of global importance. Within its territory there is a relevant part of the Yrenda Aquifer System, the most important natural reserve of fresh underground water in the Chaco. Furthermore, within the limits a great portion of the Timané River is protected, a river that plays a vital role in the cyclical development of different ecosystems of great importance to the northern Paraguayan Chaco.

Paraguay - Jesuit Mission of San Cosme y San Damián

 The Jesuit Mission of San Cosme y San Damián is one of a group of 30 Jesuit missions in the Rio de la Plata Basin and one of the seven remaining Jesuit missions in Paraguay. The current municipality of San Cosme y San Damián has an approximate population of 10,000 inhabitants and a surface area of 800 km², and is situated along the Paraná River coast. This Tentative List submission is for the extension of a serial property already inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993: The Guaraní Jesuit Missions of Santísima Trinidad del Paraná and Jesús de Tavarangüe of Paraguay.

Paraguay - Defensores del Chaco National Park

 This large national park, composed of 720,000 hectares in the middle of the Alto Chaco, guarantees the conservation of the area’s natural processes and the protection of its important biodiversity. It is one of the first protected areas in Paraguay, created in 1975 with the purpose of conserving representative and unique samples of the Chaco in general. It protects important biodiversity and ecological processes, as well as important indigenous communities, such as the Ayoreo, some of which could still live in voluntary isolation (silvicultural) and inhabit areas within the limits of the park and its buffer zones.