Paracel is committed to manage and develop its business with the highest international standards of environmental, social and economic sustainability.

One of the company’s objectives is to measure its actions and their impact based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), promoted in 2015 by the United Nations, which will be used as an analysis tool both to establish improvement actions and to generate innovation actions.

Likewise, Paracel seeks to foster positive long-term relationships with its different stakeholders, with a greater focus on those with a high degree of vulnerability, such as the indigenous communities of Paraguay.

Para Paracel, es de vital importancia provocar un efecto positivo en el nivel de vida de los habitantes de la región. Se espera que, además de crear 4.000 empleos directos, se creen otros 36.000 empleos indirectos. De esta forma, Paracel podría ser una fuente de trabajo para 40.000 personas en la región.

The plant will produce 220 MW of renewable energy. The excess energy, which will be approximately 100MW, will be supplied to the national grid, equivalent to the consumption of a city of about 200,000 inhabitants.

FAQ

Environmental Sustainability

Yes, Paracel has all the permits required by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADES).

You can access this information at the following link: https://paracel.com.py/documentos/

Paracel will manage waste from all operating sites, i.e. the industrial component, forestry and administrative offices, following the Integrated Waste Management Program, whose main criterion is the adoption of minimization measures at source, and management from the generation, characterization, segregation, temporary storage, collection and transportation, treatment and final disposal of waste.

Paracel plans several mechanisms to manage its effluents or liquid waste in the construction and operation stages of the plant. As preventive measures to reduce the volume of wastewater or effluent generation, we will implement actions for the recirculation and reuse of water in all our processes.

All effluents discharged into the Paraguay River will comply with the limits established in Resolution SEAM N° 222/2002 «Whereby the water quality standard is established in the national territory».

The effluent treatment system for the plant’s operation basically consists of three stages: primary, secondary and tertiary treatment.

Effluent quality parameters will be monitored by regular sampling at the treatment plant’s inlet and outlet by means of laboratory analysis. In addition, samples will be sent to external laboratories for verification at the frequency required by the enforcement authority.

Effluent sampling for the corresponding analyses will be in real time (on-line), simple (instantaneous collection), or composed over a 24-hour period, and will be collected by automatic samplers. In turn, these will be performed at the inlet and outlet of the Effluent Treatment Plant. If the parameters exceed the established limits, the effluent will be returned to an emergency lagoon at the PTE.

No. Paracel will implement the necessary mechanisms to ensure that there are no disturbances in the environment in relation to the noise generated, through quarterly monitoring of noise levels at 5 points previously established in the baseline, the values will be compared with the limits or levels accepted for industrial activities.

In addition to monitoring, preventive measures will be established, such as the use of insulation systems in equipment that could generate noise and protective measures for employees in the industry.

Yes, Paracel will not affect the existing legal forest area, which corresponds to 25% of the forest area that existed in the base year (1986) in each property.

The native forests and riparian forests (watercourse protectors) that represent legal reserves on all of Paracel’s properties will be maintained in their entirety. Paracel foresees mechanisms for constant monitoring through high-resolution satellite images and drone overflights to verify the evolution of the forest cover and the evolution of regenerated, recovered, or restored areas, as well as procedures for monitoring and controlling illegal activities that could affect the quality and quantity of the forest surface.

Yes, the forest plantation areas will perform an important capture of carbon present in the air, therefore, Paracel will contribute to the mitigation of the increase in the concentration of CO2, the main greenhouse gas (GHG) that causes global warming.

The carbon balance, i.e. the CO2 emissions from Paracel’s activities minus the carbon sequestration that will be carried out by its forest plantations, gives a positive balance that could be reached, i.e. it will capture more CO2 from the air than will be emitted.

In addition, the native forests and natural areas that will be under conservation on Paracel’s properties will act as carbon sinks, which means that CO2 emissions from change of use of these areas, if they were not conserved, will also be avoided.

Eucalyptus forest plantations will be managed adopting soil conservation criteria, this includes:

    • Maintenance of soil fertility and organic matter content: based on physicochemical analyses, fertilization recommendations are made for each type of soil to ensure that the nutrients that are extracted are returned to the soil in the optimum amount.
    • Erosion control: practices are carried out to prevent soil loss due to water or wind erosion.
    • Pollution prevention: practices such as oil and fuel management are adopted to avoid water and soil contamination

In addition, the legal requirements and those required by the FSC® and IFC standards are included as sustainable production principles.

Las plantaciones forestales de eucalipto serán manejadas adoptando los criterios de conservación de suelos, esto incluye:

    • El mantenimiento de la fertilidad y contenido de materia orgánica del suelo: en base a análisis fisicoquímicos se realizan las recomendaciones de fertilización para cada tipo de suelo, de forma a asegurar que los nutrientes que son extraídos sean retornados al suelo en la cantidad óptima.
    • Control de la erosión: se realizan prácticas que eviten la pérdida del suelo por arrastre hídrico o eólico.
    • Prevención de la contaminación: se adoptan prácticas como manejo de aceites y combustibles para evitar la contaminación del agua y del suelo.

Además, se incluyen los requisitos legales y los exigidos por las normas FSC e IFC como principios de producción sostenible.

Because the eucalyptus plantations will have a cycle of at least six years between planting and harvest, the use of agrochemicals will be low and will be concentrated only in the initial phase of the crop. Ants will be monitored throughout the cycle and controlled using mostly low-toxicity products and in compliance with legal regulations.

Social Sustainability

Yes, social responsibility has been part of the organization’s strategy since its inception. Applying the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility in a transversal way to all the links of the company will allow us to obtain a high organizational performance that will directly translate into business profitability.

All companies generate impacts in one way or another, so we must be duly diligent and analyze the magnitude of the impacts and whether they are positive or negative, both for the company and for its different stakeholders.

Paracel is an industry that will use modern technologies and techniques whose socio-environmental impacts are minimal. We will develop projects that will contribute to solve the economic, social and environmental problems of the country.

Measuring our performance in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility is a commitment assumed by Paracel, and for this purpose we will use the most advanced standards worldwide, such as ISO 26,000, the Sustainable Development Goals, IFC, FSC Forestry and B Certification, among others.

Yes. Paracel bases its relationship with indigenous communities on the framework of Decree 1039/18 «Protocol for the Process of Consultation and Free, Prior and Informed Consent with Indigenous Peoples living in Paraguay», so that the relationship process with indigenous communities is respectful of their rights, dignity, aspirations, culture and livelihoods.

Paracel has worked on the development of three key documents that guide its actions in the processes of engagement with indigenous peoples:

    • Program for Relations with Indigenous Communities.
    • Indigenous Peoples Liaison Policy.
    • Indigenous Peoples Plan.

At this point it is important to highlight that Paracel not only focuses on indigenous communities but on all those in its area of influence.

Yes, Paracel has developed a Community Relations and Social Investment Program, which includes several actions to strengthen the social infrastructure of Concepción, in order to foster local development and promote close ties between the communities and the company, as well as to improve production and innovation capacity in order to add value to income-generating activities, especially for indigenous families.

All these actions are directly linked to financial closing.

Yes, Paracel works closely with state institutions, academia and other civil society organizations in order to implement its programs, plans and policies.

It currently has more than 20 signed agreements.

Paracel will contribute significantly to the economic development of the department of Concepción, through the development of a new export line of business at the national level, and important investments in plantations, infrastructure, equipment and training, making it possible to attract foreign investment for long-term settlement, contributing to the development of small and medium-sized national companies and other foreign companies, thus creating new jobs.

Yes, Paracel invested significant time, effort and resources in environmental and social impact assessments. The potential environmental and social impacts of the project have been thoroughly investigated in an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA). These studies were carried out by a third party and also form part of the legal permitting process.

For further information, please visit: https://paracel.com.py/documentos/

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