Bolivia's gift to the Earth largest in South America
Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network
September 19, 2001
South America's largest freshwater protected area has been set aside by the government of Bolivia and was presented to the world in a ceremony in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on Monday.
The Bolivian government designated three wetlands totalling 17,760 square miles — an area larger than Switzerland — as protected sites under an international treaty known as the Ramsar Convention.
The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, provides the framework for national action and international cooperation to conserve wetlands. Bolivia becomes the second country to designate such a vast area of wetlands in the Ramsar Convention's 30 years of existence.
Ramsar Secretary General Delmar Blasco, attended the ceremonies Monday that formally established the newly protected area.
Endangered species such as the jaguar, the tapir, the giant river otter, and the hyacinth macaw inhabit these wetlands, located in the lowlands of Bolivia. The three wetlands — Bañados del Izogog-Rio Parapeti, El Palmar de las Islas-Salinas de San José, and Bolivian Pantanal — are also home to hundreds of species of plants and animals which are threatened in other parts of the country and in the rest of the world. The wetlands are linked to the Amazon basin, forming a biological and genetic corridor. They serve as freshwater reserves for the surrounding human communities.
The Bolivian Pantanal is the best preserved portion of the the larger Pantanal system, often called the world's largest freshwater wetland system, extending through millions of square miles of central-western Brazil, eastern Bolivia, and eastern Paraguay. A tapestry of lakes, lagoons, rivers, flooded savannas, palms, and dry forests, the Bolivian Pantanal regulates floods and droughts in an enormous area of Eastern Bolivia. It has enormous biodiversity, sustaining at least 197 species of fish, more than 70 species of amphibians and reptiles, more than 300 species of birds, and more than 50 species of large mammals. Unfortunately, it is bounded by dry forests that are considered to be the among the most endangered and least protected biomass in the world.
The Bolivian government's decision has been recognized as a Gift to the Earth — a first for freshwater in Latin America — by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). "The inclusion of these sites on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance is a huge achievement for both conservation and local communities," said Dr. Claude Martin, director general of WWF International. "The impressive expanse of land and water that becomes protected thanks to this move, represents close to 10 percent of the global conservation goal of WWF's Living Waters Program."
When governments designate Ramsar sites, they commit themselves to better conservation of the wetlands and wiser use of the natural resources. It means that development projects such as waterways, highways, drainage, and irrigation canals or oil and gas pipelines must be carefully planned and their environmental impact thoroughly assessed.
This is particularly important for the Bolivian Pantanal, where various large-scale development projects are planned, including the Paraguay-Parana waterway, the construction of which would mean clearing land and dredging of rivers in the region.
"Local actors, such as municipal authorities, indigenous communities, farmers, and private landowners have welcomed the designation of the sites," said Roger Landivar, WWF country representative in Bolivia. "They showed not only interest but also hope and commitment to participate in the conservation of these ecosystems, while at the same time accessing natural resources in a sustainable way."
There are now 128 countries that are parties to the Ramsar Convention. They have set aside 1,093 wetland sites, totaling 336,000 square miles, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.