Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

VIDEO: World's largest wetland at risk
12 Feb 2009 04:44:00 GMT
 Source: Reuters
Feb 11 - Visitors to Brazil's Pantanal can still spot a 220-pound jaguar or a giant capybara, but the famed wetland is at risk of being destroyed by encroaching farms and industry.

Larger than all of England, the landlocked Pantanal basin in southwestern Brazil is the world's largest wetland.

According to The Nature Conservancy, the Pantanal harbors the greatest concentration of fauna in the Americas.

It is also one of the largest sources of fresh water in South America. But the idyllic scenery is deceiving. Just meters away from the ecological refuge, a large herd of cattle roams freely through the swamp, stomping on floating lily pads.

Cattle ranchers chop down trees and sow pasture land, causing most of the Pantanal's destruction, environmentalists say.

The Pantanal's destruction could affect millions of people as far downstream as Asuncion and Buenos Aires.




AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Latest news

•  VIDEO: World's largest wetland at risk

•  Latin America ex-leaders urge reform of US drug war

•  RPT-FEATURE-End of an era for the Amazon's turbulent priests

•  Brazil Indians suspected of cannibalism - police

•  Can algae save the world - again?

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by

Background information

Facts & figures
Brazil

Related articles

Breaking stories
 VIDEO: World's largest wetland at risk (1 minute ago)

Latin America ex-leaders urge reform of US drug war (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 Aid agencies plan CO2 offsets that also help poor (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Peace game to help train disaster responders (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Tuberculosis estimated new cases (2006) (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-02-11T034254Z_01_SIN244_RTRIDSP_2_BRAZIL-PRIESTS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SIN244.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-02-11T034231Z_01_SIN243_RTRIDSP_2_BRAZIL-PRIESTS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SIN243.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-02-11T005001Z_01_SIN242_RTRIDSP_2_BRAZIL-PRIESTS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SIN242.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-02-11T004911Z_01_SIN241_RTRIDSP_2_BRAZIL-PRIESTS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SIN241.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-01-08T044240Z_01_JSI05_RTRIDSP_2_BRAZIL_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JSI05.htm

Austrian-born Bishop Erwin Krautler listens to a question during an interview with Reuters in Belem January 28, 2009. For the three foreign-born Roman Catholic bishops under death threat in Brazil's northeastern ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Thu Feb 12 04:45:48 2009