Pantanal and Climate Change

NATALYA THAKUR

 

After a discussion about climate change in my social entrepreneurship class, I was intrigued to understand the effects it has had on wetlands, specifically the Pantanal.A growing population and agriculture industry have led to many different action items for the Pantanal to focus on. 

Potential Consequences: As temperatures rise, species will migrate towards higher latitudes and altitudes in both hemispheres, and the species composition and functioning of plants will be altered, particularly the efficiency with which they use water.

The programs started by the World Wildlife Fund in 1998 have focused on the sedimentation plain as well as the maintenance of the Upper Paraguay River Watershed. Environmental management is crucial to this region and efforts are combined with cross-border programs, such as the one in Bolivia (70-20-10%). As of right now the magnitude of information is still being organized, so designing strategies that reduce the vulnerability of the watershed in the face of climate change are the current focus. 

Options Include: Sustainable cattle ranching, land use planning to conserve watershed, and corporate environmental responsibility.

Beyond this--the Pantanal itself is practicing the following:

• Maintenance and purification of water sources, necessary for humans, animals, farming, and river transport
• Protection and maintenance of soil fertility, necessary for agriculture as well as plant life.
• Biological control to avoid plagues from destroying crops
• Regulation of the hydro-biological processes to avoid droughts and floods
• Purification of air.

Doing a bit of further research, I realized that these practices are very real and being follow throughed. For example, the extraction of ore deposits from the Mutún mine is currently in the process of being consolidated and is expected to produce considerable social, economic and environmental changes. Also, a large hydro-electrical facility was recently constructed on the Manso River, a principal tributary of the Cuiaba River, a project designed also to regulate seasonal flooding.

1) http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/bolivia/our_work/pantanal_programme/

2) http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/view.php?id=26370