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Bolivia names three large new Ramsar sites

At ceremonies on 17 September 2001 presided over by the Minister of Sustainable Development and Planning, Dr. Ramiro Cavero, and attended by the Ramsar Secretary General Delmar Blasco and Mr Denis Landenbergue of The World Wide Fund for Nature’s Living Waters Campaign, Bolivia designated three extremely large and promising wetland sites for the List of Wetlands of International Importance. It should be mentioned that WWF-Bolivia assisted Bolivia materially in the preparation of site designation data, and that all three sites have also been enlisted as WWF "Gifts to the Earth". The Bolivian Pantanal, at more than 3 million hectares (30,000 km2), becomes the third largest Ramsar site in the world (after Botswana’s Okavango and Canada’s Queen Maud Gulf), and Bolivia becomes the fifth largest Ramsar Contracting Party in terms of pure surface area, following Canada, Russia, Botswana, and Brazil. Bolivia now has six Ramsar sites and the Convention has 1094. WWF's press release on these designations is available in English, French, and Spanish at http://ramsar.org/w.n.bolivia_wwf3.htm.

Los Bañados del Izozog y el río Parapetí (615,882 hectares, 18°27’S 061°49’W) comprises the largest and most important wetlands in the Santa Cruz region of the multinational Chaco biogeographical region, and supports a diverse community of flora and fauna characteristic of the rivers of the Chaco. The Bañados lie at the termination of the river’s course in a tectonic depression and are of great seasonal importance as a source of water. As the only water source in a region of dry forest, during the dry season the site supplies vital support to at least four species of larger mammals (types of armadillo, panther, peccary, and tapir) which are listed by IUCN as vulnerable or endangered. Ecologically, because of its hydrological connection with the Amazon basin, the site serves as part of a biological and genetic corridor which permits the flow and interchange of species of the wetter north with those of arid zones of the south. The shores of the Parapetí have been inhabited by the Izoceño-Guaraní people since at least the 15th century, who have made little impact upon the natural values of the site, and the area remains the physical and spiritual center of their culture. About a third of the Ramsar site is included within the Parque Nacional Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco. Construction of a gas pipeline, with associated roadworks, should be well planned so as to preclude fragmentation of habitat.

El Palmar de las Islas y las Salinas de San José (856,754 ha, 19°15’S 061°00’W) is a very large area of practically pristine saline and non-saline palm forests (Copernicia alba) and a system of small lagoons and channels supplying water to considerable numbers of animal species. As these are the only wetlands in a large area of dry forest, they provide essential support for many species during critical stages in their life cycles, as in the reproduction of several amphibian and reptile species. The water bodies also have great seasonal importance for larger mammals, such as peccary and tapir, which congregate around them during the dry season. The area has traditionally been used almost exclusively by the Ayoréode people, who practice a nomadic system of resource exploitation, with hunting, gathering, and subsistence agriculture. Parts of the site lie within a national park and an integrated management natural area of the Gran Chaco.

El Pantanal Boliviano (3,189,888 ha, 18°00’S 058°30’W) includes an enormous area on the eastern frontier with Brazil, part of South America’s great Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland. The vast complex of rivers, lakes, lagoons, marsh, inundated forests and savannahs, a major source of the Paraguay river, is considered to be richer in biodiversity and less disturbed than Brazilian portions, supporting astonishing numbers of floral species and fish, birds, and large mammals. The site also includes the Chiquitano forest, a major extension of the most intact dry forest in the world. Historically populated by Chiquitano and Ayoréode peoples in the southern parts, near the Chaco transitional region, others have joined the region over the past century to pursue cattle-grazing and trade with Brazil. Necessary future exploitation of mineral resources must be carefully managed to avoid harm to the region, and expanded cattle grazing may pose a threat to ecological values; deforestation as on the Brazilian side of the border is feared, and the potential effects of the Hidrovia project to open the Paraguay to navigation are being watched carefully.

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ). Posted 23 September 2001, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.