Integrated Watershed Management of the Pantanal and Upper Paraguay River Basin (GEF Pantanal/Upper Paraguay Project)

This project catalyses implementation of a detailed watershed management program for the Pantanal and the Upper Paraguay River Basin. Project activities will enhance and restore the environmental functioning of the system; provide protection to endemic species within the wetland; and implement strategic activities identified in the Plan for the Conservation of the Upper Paraguay River Basin (PCBAP) that address the root causes of degradation. These actions with incremental costs will complement basin-scale interventions by the Government of Brazil, financed in part from national and state sources and by international loan funding, and sub-basin scale activities, many of which address expected baseline activities. Strengthening of basin institutions, building of agency and organizational capacity, and integration of environmental concerns into economic development activities on a sustainable basis are the key elements of this project. The project activities are designed to catalyse implementation of actions necessary to address the conservation of a wetland of global significance identified during the PCBAP program and elaborated in the issues identified during the PDF-B project activities. The project activities are designed to implement the WMP for the UPRB, and are concentrated in six principal components as set forth below.

* COMPONENT I: WATER QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION. The objective of Component I is to quantify specific priority issues of concern, generally identified in PCBAP. This component is essential for the development and implementation of the remedial measures set forth in the subsequent components of the project.

* COMPONENT II: CONSERVATION OF THE PANTANAL: PCBAP recommended the creation of conservation units within the Pantanal as a means of preserving the best remaining areas of natural habitat within the region. Units of this type have been established and implemented in the State of Mato Grosso. The objective of Component II is to refine these units and expand their usage to the State of Mato Grosso do Sul.

* COMPONENT III: LAND DEGRADATION. Component III addresses cross-cutting issues, which relate specifically to land and water management activities designed to protect and/or rehabilitate critical areas within the Basin. Building upon Component I above, the objective of Component II is to implement community-based land management through the identification and demonstration of environmentally-sound practices within the agricultural, mining and urban economic sectors.

* COMPONENT IV: STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. The objective of Component IV is to involve the Basin communities in practical, "hands on" type involvement in the identification and demonstration of remedial measures, as well as in a dialogue process. Experiences in environmentally sustainable economic growth identified in Components I through III above will be transferred to the public at large.

* COMPONENT V: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT. Component V is designed to strengthen and improve institutional and staffing capabilities. The objective of Component V is to implement new laws, regulations, and procedures necessary for the longer-term success of the watershed management measures and embodied in federal law 9433/97. This component will help to increase participation in decision-making within the basin, and enhance the ability of the Basin Committee to carry out its mandate.

* COMPONENT VI: INTEGRATED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION. The objective of Component VI is to synthesize the data and experiences, feasibility assessments and cost analyses developed in the five preceding components. The activities explicitly provide for the cooperative refinement and implementation of the comprehensive WMP by both the public and private sectors, based on a multi-sectoral, holistic approach to environmental management and economic development in this Basin, as provided for in Chapter 18 of Agenda 21 and federal law 9433/97, in representative sub-basins of the Upper Paraguay River, and the extension of this experience to the entire UPRB

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