Pantanal Wilderness
The Pantanal wetland may disappear by 2050. According to Conservation International, deforestation in the Brazilian Pantanal has quadrupled in recent years. Already, a staggering 17 percent of the original vegetation has been lost in the region.
The Pantanal is the largest and most spectacular freshwater ecosystem in the world, with an exceptionally high biodiversity. See the Pantanal Megafauna Chart below for a list of wildlife inhabitants; current and envisioned. Those with a gray background are proposed new inhabitants not native or naturalized to South America. Where endangered, the categories are indicated; (CR, EN, VU & LR) or extinct in the wild (EW) according to the IUCN.
Located south of the Amazon basin, at the crossroads of Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, the Pantanal is a fragile and naturally fragmented ecosystem that covers an area of approximately 200,000 km2, about half the size of California.
Tributaries of the Paraguay River flood and recede every year, rhythmically transforming the region from floodplains to grassy savannahs. In addition to critical habitats for a diverse and highly concentrated array of vegetation and wildlife, the Pantanal’s hydrological system supports and provides certain invaluable ecosystem services to local communities, such as water purification, nutrient storage, sediment trapping, flood control, storm protection, and climate stabilization.
Located in the center of South America, the Pantanal forms a link between the biomes of the Amazon, the Cerrito savannah and the Chacos of Bolivia and Paraguay. The region lies at an altitude of less than 150 meters and the landscape is virtually flat. During the rainy season up to 80% of the territory is inundated, forcing out most of the local population, who temporarily migrate to the surrounding towns and villages. Besides rivers and various forest formations, the Pantanal is a complex system of marshlands, floodplains, lagoons and interconnected drainage channels.
The envisioned wilderness would encompass most of this marsh land as well as some adjoining uplands. Wildlife corridors would connect it to the Amazon jungle to the north, the Cerrado of Brazil to the northeast, and the dryer Chacos to the south and west. The Andes Mountains and the Altiplano would overlook the wilderness region from the west.
