Pantanal Economy

Since the mid 70's, there has been an intensification of the agricultural and cattle breeding economies in "Pantanal". Today, with around 4 million cattle, the region has become an important meat producer. Cattle breeding is not considered prejudicial to the environment, however, the unpredictability of the great floods controls herd sizes, maintaining them within the limits of an ecological sustainable economy. In the absence of other pasture mammals, besides the few deer, the Nelore bulls are not in competition with the original fauna. They have become integral part of "Pantanal's" landscape.

The cultivation of rice, sugar cane and soya are prejudicial to "Pantanal's" environment. Dams, canals and landfills, which drain the rains for the agriculture, besides the deforestation of the "cerrado", cause the silting up of rivers like the Taquari, and have interfered in the upriver migration of the fish. Recently many exotic herbs are spread by air sowing, the Brachiaria africana for instance, to increase pastoral productivity.

The "Pantanal" is a large water collection and evaporation bay, and a lot of care must be taken on preserving it from pollution. An example is what happens to the mercury used to wash gold by the prospectors of the Pocone river: its toxic salts accumulate in the bays in ever increasing quantities; the fish spread the mercury and the amount of this health damaging metal on the skins of "Pantanal" fish increases each year. Pulp from alcohol distillers in Mato Grosso and the pollution from the metropolis of Cuiabá also accumulate in this large sedimentation bay.
Just one of the great environmental dangers for the entire "Pantanal" is the waterway project, planned jointly by Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. To facilitate the access of marine and river navigation until Cáceres, in the Upper Paraguay, the river channel will have to be dredged, the meanders, cut-offs, and the contact between river and swamps will have to be restricted by dykes.
In order to guarantee this ecosystem's health, it is fundamental to maintain and extend its preserved areas. Currently there is a small Ecologic Station, the Taiamã Island Station, and "Pantanal's" National Park. But the regulation of these immense areas is extremely difficult, due to lack of financial resources and appropriate personnel.

A promising activity, and compatible to the survival of this unique environment, is the so-called ecological tourism: the Transpantanal highway, partially completed, as well as the Miranda-Corumbá road, facilitate thousand of tourists' access and enables the enjoyment of the richness of "Pantanal"'s fauna and landscape. The tourist industry is a means of awakening the "Pantanal" man's interest for the survival of the region's fauna and flora. The growing number of tourist farms and small hotels constitutes a good example of integration between tourism and the ecosystem's environmental preservation.

Flooded lands are always rich in fauna, all over the world. In the special case of "Pantanal", the neighborhood of Amazônia and the environment's physical characteristics make it one of the areas of highest tourist and ecological value in Brazil. Activities such as cattle, capybara and alligator breeding are compatible to the preservation of the area. On the other hand, the action of prospectors and individual initiatives which alter the landscape's ecology through drainage of swamps and extensive landfills among others, makes impossible the maintenance of the abundant flora and fauna and of the tourist potential. Considered one of Earth's paradises, it is of fundamental importance to maintain and extend "Pantanal's" preservation areas.

by Francis Dov Por, Vera Lúcia Imperatriz Fonseca and Frederico Lencioni Neto