Pollution and Mining: Effects from areas surrounding the Pantanal

NATALYA THAKUR


Some of the main problems that the Pantanal faces currently include:
(1) burning and other deforestations of the watershed, (2) exploitation of fauna by poaching and overfishing, (3) discharge of untreated, urban waste, particularly in the state of Mato Grosso, (4) contamination from agrochemicals, (5) discharge of chemical pollutants, such as mercury through mining operations, (6) poorly planned road construction, and (7) local dam and dike construction.


Since the Pantanal is a main global wetland, most of the pollution has to do with water. One increasingly serious concern is water contamination, including mining byproducts, agrochemicals, sewage and garbage. Agrochemicals, including the heavy use of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides in agricultural activities, pose another difficult problem as they are washed into the streams and rivers. A common problem relative to MINING operations is mercury contamination from gold mining operations. High levels of mercury have been found in fish and in fish-eating birds, such as kingfishers and raptors.


Furthermore, the problem extends past the immediate span of the Pantanal. Conservation of the Paraguay River Basin and the survival of the Pantanal are being threatened, mainly by the degradation of springs and the rivers that flow from the highland plateaus (Cerrado savannahs) to the Pantanal floodplain below. Some ways to comprehend the massive effects of surrounding areas can be understood by analyzing possible solutions:


1) Altering development models and creating more protected areas are intelligent and strategic actions for the four countries responsible for maintaining the wetland and for developing basin adaptation measures to face the oncoming alterations to the climate.

2) Free range cattle ranching needs more technical and economic support so that best practices such as water and soil conservation, management and recuperation of pastures and integration of crop and cattle farming can be passed on to producers ,

3) There are important mining areas in the basin, especially in the Andean regions like at Potosi (Bolivia), areas of natural gas extraction in the transition zone between the Chaco and the Andes, gold and diamond mining in Mato Grosso and iron ore, limestone and manganese ore mining in Mato Grosso do Sul. Mining in these areas must be regulated and new methods must be used to mitigate the risk on the environment.

4) In the case of hydroelectric installations already in operation, the way forward is to implant operational schemes that maintain the alternation of high water and low water in a pattern similar to natural patterns . In the case of dams still at the planning stage, it is essential to evaluate their cumulative impacts on the rivers in the basin and identify those areas that can absorb the environmental costs involved and those that cannot do so without damaging the Pantanal.

Sources:

http://www.pantanal.org/pantvalu.htm

http://www.wwf.org.br/?30524/Disregard-for-springs-and-rivers-threatens-the-Pantanal