junho, 11 2015

The 12^th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, known as Ramsar Convention, ended up with a goal for the Pantanal conservation.  In a coordinated effort headed by the Bolivian government, supported by the WWF representatives in Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, additionally to delegates of the governments of the three countries, succeeded in incorporating to the final text of the meeting a paragraph that recognizes and reinforces the importance of performing joint actions to conserve and develop the largest continental wetlands on earth.

Now the opportunities of joint work are expected to increase as the countries incorporate this idea into their development and conservation strategies, supported by the organized civil society and other sectors.

“If we are to protect the Pantanal and the Plata River Basin in a more effective way, we must look at the biome and the region as a whole, and act in an integrated way. That is why in the Conference we have advocated for and incorporated it into the WWF actions planning for the three countries” said Júlio César Sampaio, coordinator of the Cerrado-Pantanal Programme of the WWF-Brazil.

The programme develops actions that gather conservation, sustainable development, good productive practices, insertion into public policies and coordination among governments.

This kind of action is supported by the guidelines of the Ramsar Convention. The global agreement was established in 1971 and provides for regional initiatives that should be joined to defend their sites.

In 1993, the countries that adhered to Ramsar have recognized the Pantanal as an integrated system with no geo-political frontiers. The Regional Initiative on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wetlands in the Plata River Basin, within the scope of the Convention, and the Plata River Treaty of 1969 also ensure legitimacy to the joint work in Pantanal.

“We will keep direct contact and support governments in this discussion and in the implementation of the guidelines to enable gathering the society, the private initiative and the public power of the three countries”, said Aldem Bourscheit, a Public Policies expert of the WWF-Brazil.

Wealth without borders – the Pantanal is home to three Ramsar* sites recognized worldwide as crucial to the conservation of wetlands. It is a cross-board region that occupies 624,320 km² - little bigger than the state of Minas Gerais – of which 62% are in Brazil, 20% in Bolivia and 18% in Paraguay.

Therefore, any approach that considers water and biodiversity conservation and the environmental services provided by the region should be shared by the three countries. Moreover, it should also include actions on the headwaters of the rivers that spring in the highlands and that feed life in the Pantanal, which is strongly dependent on annual cycles of floods and droughts.

After all, nature does not respect borders. The impact of human activities on the headwaters of the rivers that make up the Pantanal can be reflected hundreds kilometers far from the origin, with repercussions on the environment and ways of living in the wetland in other countries.

That is why scientists warn about the changes on the natural environment of the Pantanal that could put in risk the life of species, change the environmental and climate balance, and drastically affect human populations.

Academics state that wetlands are disappearing. According to estimates, 64% of those areas have disappeared since 1900, being drained off or landed for different purposes. Farming, damming, channeling, pollution and works that affect rivers and coastal zones are among the main threats.

* Brazilian wetlands part of the Ramsar List

Sites
 

Sites	State	Date of inclusion
Reentrânicas Maranhenses Environmental Protection Area	MA	30/Nov/1993
Baixada Maranhense Environmental Protection Area	MA	29/Feb/2000
Parcel de Manuel Luiz Parcel State Park	MA	29/Feb/2000
Araguaia National Park – Bananal Island	TO	04/Oct/1993
Lagoa do Peixe National Park	RS	24/May/1993
Pantanal Matogrossense National Park	MT	24/May/1993
Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve	AM	04/Oct/1993
SESC Pantanal Private Reserve of Natural Heritage	MT	06/Dec/2002
Rio Negro Farm Private Reserve of Natural Heritage	MS	28/May/2009
Abrolhos Marine National Park	BA	02/Feb/2013
Rio Doce State Park	MG	26/Feb/2010
Cabo Orange National Park	AP	02/Feb/2013