The Totobiegosode tribe, now with only 300 members, has wandered large expanses of the Paraguayan Chaco for centuries, settling periodically to work small plots, gather fruit and honey and hunt and fish without causing any long-term deforestation. In the process, their system of agriculture, involving the itinerant sowing of seeds, has enriched the biodiversity of the semi-arid lowlands and helped maintain it as one of the best preserved areas of the Paraguayan Chaco, experts say. But now the way of life of these “uncontacted” nomadic people—already pressured by the advancing agricultural frontier—might be threatened by an international effort to fight global warming. That effort, which would have industrial countries offset their carbon emissions by paying to maintain tropical forests, would turn... [Log in to read more]