Cablegate: Pantanal Regional Meeting Discusses Joint Management

VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBR #1770/01 2341900
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221900Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6445
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ AUG ASUNCION 5601
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DOE WASHDC
RUEHC/DOI WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DOJ WASHDC
RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC
RUEANAT/NASA HQ WASHDC
RUCPDC/NOAA WASHDC
RUEHRC/USDA WASHDC
RUCPDO/USDOC WASHDC

UNCLAS BRASILIA 001770

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR OES/ENV JMATUSZAK
STATE PLS PASS TO USAID LAC/RSD, LAC/SAM, G/ENV, AND PPC/ENV
STATE PLS PASS TO NSF/INTL FOR HSTOLBERG
TREASURY FOR USED IBRD AND IDB AND INTL/MDB
USDA TO FOREST SERVICE FOR LMAYHEW
USDA TO ARS/INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH FOR G FLANLEY
INTERIOR TO DIR INT AFFAIRS FOR KWASHBURN
INTERIOR TO FWS FOR TRILEY
INTERIOR PASS TO USGS/INTERNATIONAL/JWEAVER
JUSTICE TO ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES FOR JWEBB
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL/HILL-MACON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV EAGR EAID ECON SOCI TBIO BR
SUBJECT: PANTANAL REGIONAL MEETING DISCUSSES JOINT MANAGEMENT

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Summary
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1. The European Union (EU) hosted the Campo Grande Regional
Symposium (CGRS) on the research agenda for the Upper Paraguay River
Basin (UPRB) and the Pantanal, July 27-28 in Campo Grande, Brazil.
The Pantanal is the vast floodplain of the Upper Paraguay River
Basin and is one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems. It also
plays a crucial role in the regional hydrology of this part of South
America. Several organizations from Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay as
well as European institutions attended the event to discuss ways to
improve regional cooperation among policy makers, stakeholders, and
scientific institutions and to promote the sustainable management of
the basin. Post believes the EU's support in training, capacity
building and exchanging information with these countries is
positive. End summary.

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The Event
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2. The Pantanal is the largest freshwater wetland in the world ,
comprising an area of 496.000 Km2, 396.800 km2 of which lie within
Brazilian borders. The remaining 99.200 km2 are in Bolivia and
Paraguay. In Brazil, the Pantanal is a UNESCO world natural
heritage site and all three countries protect non-contiguous areas
as national parks and biosphere reserves. However, most of the
region is in private possession and unprotected in Brazil. While
many organizations have developed actions to protect, develop and
manage parts of the Pantanal, a coordinated approach to land use,
biodiversity conservation and water management is lacking. One
serious obstacle is the lack of joint data management across
borders.

3. The event brought together approximately 80 participants from
scientific institutions, universities, and national and
international consultants from several organizations. Most
importantly, the meeting provided an opportunity for Brazil, Bolivia
and Paraguay to exchange information, know-how, and experiences on
conservation-related decisions and natural resources management of
the Pantanal. The main focus of the symposium was to analyze the
SWOT -Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats- for the
Pantanal. In addition, a draft agenda for institutional and
scientific cooperation at national and international levels for the
Pantanal region was created, the so-called Research Agenda for the
Pantanal and the Upper Paraguay River basin.

4. INstitutions and REsearch for the Pantanal (the INREP project)
was founded to develop insights into the scientific, political,
socio-economic policies, and solutions in the sustainable management
of the Pantanal, as well as to strengthen institutional cooperation
at national and international levels. The meeting defined
approximately 20 priority areas for research and selected three
umbrella themes under which to conduct work. The first, the
environmental research agenda, emphasizes three priority issues:
micro basin restoration studies, water resources and renewable
natural resources management. The second, the
political-institutional agenda, focused on legislation, management,
monitoring and environmental services and education. Finally, the
socio-economic agenda will target land use, new technologies for
sustainable agriculture, fisheries and organic cattle raising and
cultural and historical heritage sites for ecotourism and
educational.

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Conclusion
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5. Currently, there appears to be a lack of political will as well
as financial resources to develop a regionally-based, multilateral
approach to resource management and sustainable development in the
Pantanal. However, this event enabled Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay
to compare their own efforts and perhaps begin a working dialogue on
natural resource management with a view towards regional impacts of
domestic policies. Post believes it would be beneficial and
instructive to support efforts such as these and to look for ways to
encourage the three Pantanal countries to share information and
better understand the impacts of domestic natural resource policies
on this globally important resource.

SOBEL

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