The Pantanal Wetlands Geographical Study
The Pantanal Wetlands Geographical Study
The Pantanal wetlands are the largest wetlands in the world, spanning an area of 210, 000 km2, a region the size of South Dakota and over ten times the current size of the Everglades in Florida (Silveria). The vast area contains over 600 bird and about 300 fish species and provides homeland to over 1.8 million people (“The waterway” 40). In 1993 only forty wood stork pairs nested in the Everglades compared to over one hundred times that in the Pantanal (Eckstrom 54).
This majestic wetland area, ruled by a seasonal pulse, acts like a large sponge throughout the year. During the wet season it collects water from an area of 1.75 million km2 (Eckstrom 54). Rising water levels in the Pantanal can exceed seven feet. In the spring and summer months, it slowly releases it down the Paraguay River, aided by a large rock formation at the base of the Pantanal that acts like a large water valve (Silveria). This release helps control the flood peaks of both the Paraná and the Paraguay Rivers.
Despite the majestic depiction of this area, environmental degradation has started to take its toll. Due to the manganese, iron ore, lime vein, and gold in the northern section, which reside in the hills of the Pantanal, mining has been present for years (“The waterway” 40). Careless use of mercury by gold miners has critically and habitually destroyed the ecosystem (Gottgens, et al. 301). The fertile soil north of the Pantanal has contributed to a growing number of soy farmers, who are loosely regulated in regard to the types and amounts of chemicals used on crops.
Habitual dredging, not related to Hidrovía, and floodplain conversion to crop fields has impacted the flood cycles of the Paraguay and the Paraná Rivers. In 1993 flooding caused numerous deaths, displaced over 200,000 people, and triggered considerable damage (Silveria). During 1998 one of the largest recorded floods in the history of the Paraná caused the evacuation of more than 100,000 people in Santa Fe, Argentina alone.
Portuguese for “waterway,” the Hidrovía project was first planned in the late 1980s by the La Plata Basin countries (Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay), who set up the Intergovernmental Committee on the Hidrovía (CIH) to supervise and advance the development of this project (Gottgens, et al. 302). The planned channel will...