The Pantanal

"We are witnessing the “termitization” of the Pantanal, similar to the effects of a termite attack on a piece of wood. Small widespread holes are being made that are not noticeable by just looking from the outside. If we don't take care of them, they become so numerous that they may lead the Pantanal to collapse."

"Cáceres lies on the riverbank . . . It used to be a very deep fishing hole where we could even catch jaú [one of Brazil’s largest native fish species] . . . which can reach lengths of 1.5 meters (5 feet). “These days, in the dry season you can cross the river in water below your knees because of all the silt. And there are hardly any fish . . ."

"The fires destroyed our farms; they burned our homes . . . We are very concerned with our forests because it is there that we gather our sustenance and our traditional medicines. The fires have placed all this at risk . . . We are not finding the herbs we use to treat illnesses and also the acuri palm, which we use to make the roofs on our traditional homes and some utensils, and to make our traditional chicha drink. Everything is disappearing."

"A caiman lies in wait among the lilypads. A marsh deer pauses to nibble in the brush. Bright green parakeets flit past, announcing themselves with excited chirps. A heron stands sentinel on the shore, ready to strike . . . Each day brings a new landscape—a river rises, a pool disappears, and the circle of life continues in an unending loop."

"Today, I still feel like the first time I arrived in the Pantanal . . . Seduced by the natural beauty and the constant renewal process of the waters."

"What does the farmer want to do? He wants to clear the pasture. Clear the field and create a pasture area for the cattle. All farmers . . . But then he does not think, I cleared up the area, I removed the capybara, I removed the white-lipped peccary, I removed the collared peccary, I removed the marsh deer . . ."

In 2000, "The Pantanal is designated a Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme."

"A billion-dollar project to build a water highway that would allow year-round shipping down the Paraguay and Parana Rivers is currently under consideration by the governments of Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay. The so-called Hidrovia project, which involves blasting rock formations, dredging and straightening the rivers, would drain the water and dry out the wetlands while introducing flooding downstream, a 1995 hydrological study by Victor Ponce of San Diego State University found. In short, ecologists warn, it would destroy the Pantanal's ecological rhythms. It would also destroy its seclusion."

"The Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988, considered the Pantanal a national heritage, stating that its use will be in the form of law, under conditions that [ensure] the preservation of the environment, including at this point, the use of natural resources."

"The 80,000-square-mile inland delta that fans out just south of this frontier city has the most varied and profuse animal life in all the Americas, but poachers are turning it into a vast killing ground. Called the Pantanal, it has just come under a presidential order setting aside a small part as a preserve and strengthening the outmanned ranger force charged with combating large-scale sophisticated smuggling from across the border in Bolivia and Paraguay. The plunderers' business is the lucrative sale of hides to European and North American markets. The jaguars, capybaras, otters and alligators of the Pantanal are their prey."

"In the late 1980s, the La Plata Basin countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) resolved to initiate this huge project as a step toward integrating the basin countries . . . These nations created the Intergovernmental Committee on the Hidrovía (CIH) to promote and oversee the development of this commercial waterway. The waterway would link the five countries and promote regional integration through Mercosur (common market of the South) by ensuring year-round navigational transport of minerals and agricultural products (primarily soybeans) from landlocked regions to major markets along the Atlantic coast. The goal was to transform the meandering river into a deep, wide channel that could accommodate large barges, particularly during the low-water months."

"From 1962 to 1973, caiman populations in the Pantanal experienced a double whammy, with a severe drought and intense hunting pressure. The result was a dramatic reduction in caiman stocks . . . It is reported by local people that carcasses littered the ground, and many more caimans could be seen starving in the dry fields."

Verde mar de gramíneas, mar parado, Que of corixos, qual serpe desconforme De cristal, vão cruzando, lado a lado, O imenso pantanal se estira e dorme. Pasta, em manadas plácidas, o gado. Lá foge um cervo. E, de onde em onde, enorme, Como velho navio abandonado, Uma árvore barceja a copa informe. Não vibra um eco só de voz alguma: Ao longe, silencioso e desmedido, O bando das pernaltas lá se perde. [Green sea of grasses, unmoving sea, That the waterways, as a serpent without form Made of glass, are crossing, from side to side, The immense pantanal stretches and sleeps. Grazing, in placid herds, the cattle. There a deer flees. And, from time to time, enormous, As an old, abandoned veseel, A tree gesticulates its shapeless top. Not an echo of any voice alone vibrates: In the distance, silent, and unmeasured, A band of long-legged birds is there lost.]

"Thousands of aquatic birds congregate here; one could say millions, for wherever one finds flooded land, one always sees them, everywhere dotting the surface, standing in the grass with their feet in the water, taking flight in a cloud whenever they sense our approach. There were so many great egrets that they resembled snowflakes swirling in a winter storm at night. Joining them were roseate spoonbills, tiger herons, and black-headed jabiru storks, forming an army of pernaltos."