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The Pantanal
Gets an Integrated Conservation GIS
The Pantanal, the vast floodplain of the Upper Paraguay River Basin,
is the world's largest continuous freshwater wetland and one of its
richest ecosystems. Approximately the size of Honduras, Nicaragua, and
El Salvador combined, the Pantanal crosses the borders of Brazil, Bolivia,
and Paraguay, covering approximately 15,000,000 hectares of which 11,000,000
are wetland. Alive with a great variety of fauna and flora that is characteristic
of the Amazon, Chaco, Cerrados, and Atlantic forest regions, the Pantanal's
biologically diverse and pristine environment in the heart of South
America is sustained by a complex river system and preserved chiefly
because of its inaccessibility.
Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay have designated several portions of the
Pantanal as Waterfowl Habitat under the Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance; yet much is unprotected and held mostly in private hands.
According to Dr. Montserrat Carbonell, director, Latin America and the
Caribbean, Ducks Unlimited (DU) (Memphis, Tennessee), soil erosion and
silting of rivers from indiscriminate farming practices are causing
changes. "Clearing of land for agriculture and cattle production,
mining operations, unplanned tourism, hunting, the construction of gas
and oil pipelines, and roads across the borders of the three countries
are threatening the integrity of this unique ecosystem," said Carbonell.
"And the Hidrovia Project, intended to make the Paraguay River
navigable for large commercial/transportation vessels bringing agriculture
and farming products directly to the ocean, could have irreversible
impacts on this fragile environment if not managed adequately."
Coordinating three countries to protect and manage such a vast territory
is a formidable task. While each country has completed many projects
that generated important geographic information, they each use different
classification schemes and incompatible formats, even within their own
country, making data sharing and transfer extremely difficult.
To counter this challenge, ERDAS' geographic imaging software and ESRI's
GIS products, including ArcView 3.2, ArcView Spatial Analyst, ArcView
Image Analysis, ArcPad, and ArcIMS, are being used to develop a long-term
solution that will unite the three countries in their desire to protect
and manage the Pantanal.
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