Brazil's Pantanal wetlands declared World Heritage site
Copyright 2000 Agence France Presse
November 30, 2000
RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 29 - The world's largest freshwater wetlands, home to some 650 species of birds, 80 species of mammals, 260 different types of fish and 50 species of reptiles, was named a World Heritage site Wednesday, UNESCO said.
The Pantanal National Park, stretched across two southwestern Brazilian states, joined 630 other natural and cultural sites on the worldwide list at a UNESCO conference in Australia.
Covering an area about the size of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal put together, the Pantanal is one of Brazil's most important natural resources.
"We want to preserve the biodiversity, and through that to essentially guarantee the local population will develop economically. In this way, the recognition of UNESCO is formidable, for it represents a significant boost in one of this region's great potentials, ecotourism," said Jose Sarney, Brazil's environmental minister.
The Brazilian government plans to sign an agreement in December with the Inter-American Development Bank to pour 400 million dollars into the area in the next eight years to promote environmentally-friendly development.
The Pantanal, which extends into both Bolivia and Paraguay, is the main component of one of the world's largest freshwater wetlands systems.
It is an immense alluvial plain, spanning 150,000 square kilometers and encompassing a variety of ecological sub-regions, forming one of the greatest and most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet.
But there is increasing evidence the Pantanal is being threatened by a number of disparate activities, mostly related to human activity, such as pollution, fishing and farming.
The Pantanal is the 12th site in Brazil to be included on UNESCO's list.