Upper Paraguay River Basin, Brazil

The 68,000-square-mile floodplain of the Upper Paraguay River, Brazil's Pantanal, is the world's largest freshwater wetlands-almost 10 times the size of the Florida Everglades. Annual floods, fed by tropical rains, create one of the most productive habitats on Earth for fish, birds, mammals and reptiles.

Less than two percent of the Pantanal is protected, and the spread of cultivated agriculture and intensified cattle ranching into its tributary watersheds poses an ecological threat. There is also the potential for hydrological alteration, as dams are considered for electricity generation and navigation.

Caiman © Gregory Miller/TNC

Ecological Importance: The annual floods create a nursery for aquatic life in the Pantanal, including 260 species of fish. As the waters recede during the dry season, the Pantanal attracts a great influx of birds-more than 650 different species-and other animals.

Partners: U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Agency for International Development, local landowners, institutions in Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay, and the Mato Grosso State Environmental Agency.

Conservation Action: The Conservancy is supporting a wide range of partner agencies and local stakeholders in their efforts to better manage the Pantanal National Park. Initiatives include ecoregional strategic planning and the implementation of best management practices in agriculture and ranching.  The Conservancy has fostered a partnership between authorities in the Brazilian state of Mato Grasso and the state of Illinois to share information about the Cuiabá River, one of the main tributaries of the Paraguay River, and the Illinois River, which have similar characteristics. As part of these efforts, the Conservancy and the Mato Grosso State Environment Agency are working together to implement the Ecologically Sustainable Water Management (ESWM) methodology in the Cuiabá River Basin aiming to restore the natural flow regimes for that site. Also, a promising component of this partnership is the restoration of the Cuiabá River headwaters. The Conservancy and the Mato Grosso Government intend to create a restoration model for fragile degraded areas in the Cuiabá River Basin that can be adapted and replicated in other watersheds in Mato Grosso State and Brazil. The Conservancy has also helped a local organization, Ecotropica, purchase 148,000 acres of critical land on the borders of Pantanal National Park and converted these properties into private preserves.

Upper Paraguay River Facts

• Size: The Upper Paraguay watershed is 200,000 square miles; the Pantanal Plain is 86,000 square miles.
• Location: west-central Brazil 
• Plant Species: more than 1,500 species 
• Animal Species: giant river otters, jaguars, marsh deer, tapirs, caimans, giant anteaters, bats, cormorants, egrets, herons, hyacinth macaws, ibis, jabiru storks, roseate spoonbills

Aerial view of the Pantanal © Michael Giannechini

How to Visit
Through Cuiaba to Pocone and Transpantaneira or Caceres and going down the Paraguay river.

Through Campo Grande and by car or small plane to the Negro river, Aquidauana and Miranda.

Through Corumba going up or down the Paraguay river by boat or by small plane to a number of locations inside the Pantanal plain.

From Sao Paulo or from Brasilia there are commercial flights to Cuiaba, Campo Grande and Corumba.