The world's only flooded area is under threat

Environmental experts warn of the February 2 World Wetlands Day of the Pantanal, the world's most unique submerged biodiversity area in the Midwestern Brazil, which is seriously threatened by high-density agricultural activities and widespread deforestation.

As the world's largest mangrove forest system, the Pantanal stretches millions of hectares from Brazil to Eastern Bolivia and Eastern Paraguay. This is the habitat of hundreds of endemic migratory, aquatic, mammal and plant species of mangroves. In total, about 4,500 species live here.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is warning about the growing threat to the region due to agricultural activities, deforestation, urbanization and the rampant construction of dams. electricity.

WWF draws these conclusions based on evidence in a three-year study of 30 experts from Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina along areas where the Paraguay River flows through, extending around 2,600km from upstream in Mato Grosso to the distributive part of Parana river in Argentina.

Glauco Kimura, a biologist from WWF's Aquatic Life Program, said: 'The Pantanal is under threat. That is a sad situation. Our research shows that 14% of Paraguay's basin needs emergency protection. "

Travel along the Cuiaba River, an important river of Pantanal, Kimura and his group to save up to Chapada dos Guimaraes National Park, on a plateau bordering the Pantanal.

Thousands of hectares of agricultural land are being expanded every day to grow soybeans, corn, rice, cotton and sugarcane, which have increasingly narrowed the area of ​​mangrove forests. Deforestation to get more cattle breeding makes the situation worse.

About 15% of the Pantanal's natural area has been devastated to take soybeans and livestock, according to WWF, causing serious land degradation.

The WWF study, conducted with the US-based Nature Conservancy, highlighted the cooperative actions of regional countries to save the situation.

'Unable to continue to expand farming as it is now, otherwise the forest will be totally destroyed and the water will become increasingly polluted , ' Kimura said.

Currently, only 11% of the Paraguayan basin is introduced into protected areas.