The Pantanal, world's largest tropical wetland, is facing various threats, such as deforestation, contamination by agricultural chemicals, sedimentation, construction of hydroelectric dams, destructive barge traffic, and possibly the implantation of highly polluting industries. For these reasons, during the recent World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, we initiated the campaign In Defense of the Pantanal - Tell the World!!

Please participate in the campaign, by sending your letter to the president of MDU, the American company which plans to build two thermoelectric powerplants near the Paraguay River; to Lula, the Brazilian President; to Marina Silva, Environment Minister; and to the governor of Mato Grosso do Sul state, via our website http://www.riosvivos.org.br/canal.php?canal=64&mat_id=6081

Learn more by reading the following text:

The Pantanal at risk
The state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, where the largest portion of the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands is located, will make history as the only state to trade its natural and historical heritage for an industrial wasteland. By 2009, the southern Pantanal will give way to a thermoelectric plant, a petrochemical complex, and a iron mine and steel mill. All these industries will be built in Corumbá, the town on the Paraguay river known as the Capital of the Pantanal.

The Pantanal is a series of fragile ecosystems which is of critical importance to the maintenance of the high biodiversity of the region, and the survival of the traditional populations which inhabit it. It was by virtue of these characteristics that the Pantanal was recognized as a National Heritage area in Brazil´s 1988 Constitution, and as a World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

The petrochemical complex would pollute the air, water and soil, affecting animal and plant life, and would generate toxic wastes and other problems for the population of Corumbá. The risk of accidents would be high, since the complex would be producing ammonia for fertilizer manufacture, liquefied gas, and polyethylene for making plastics. More than 600,000 tons of polyethylene/year would be produced.

The steel industry is considered one of the world's most polluting industries. Iron ore mining affects ground water, polluting rivers, streams, and wells, leaving sterile rock piles in the place of rich wetlands. Mining taking place in the Corumbá region is already causing serious environmental problems.

The consequences of a gas-fired powerplant have already been analyzed. They include increases in regional temperatures, production of acid rain, reduction of soil fertility, water and air contamination, and increased incidence of respiratory diseases, in addition to affecting migratory bird life.

In 2003, the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank was inaugurated, and a local pipeline spur to Corumbá was built in 2004. The gas generating plant in Corumbá would initially have an installed capacity of 70 MW, and plans are to increase its capacity to 180 MW. The project´s backers are MPX Mineração, a Brazilian company in partnership with the MDU Resources Group (North Dakota, USA). These companies are also partners with the Cooperativa Rural de Eletrificação LTDA (CRE) in the construction of another thermoelectric plant only a few miles away, on the other side of the Bolivian borer. This plant, in the city of Puerto Suarez, Bolivia, is currently generating 10 MW, but will be expanded to have a capacity of 160 MW.

The Brazilian government is negotiating huge development deals with multinational mining and chemical companies, including Rio Tinto (U.K.), Xinwin Mining Group (China), Grupo Repsol (Spain), and Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos - YPFB (Bolivia), in addition to Brazilian companies including Braskem, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce e Petrobras, all interested in siting additional highly-polluting industries in the Pantanal. To attract these industries, the state government is offering tax exemptions.

Rio Tinto´s subsidiary Mineradora Corumbaense Reunida (MCR) is already extracting one million tons of iron ore annually in the region. The company says it plans to increase its production in the Pantanal to 15 million tons in the coming years. Currently, 90% of the iron ore is exported.

Another important factor in the industrialization of the Pantanal are plans to increase the capacity of the Paraguay-Paraná industrial waterway. New technical and environmental studies were recently completed, with financing from the Andean Development Corporation (CAF). Expansion of the waterway's transport capacity would require extensive dredging, blasting rock outcroppings, and straightening curves along the Paraguay river to permit passage of barge convoys. Independent studies show that the Pantanal could be placed at risk if the geomorphological controls along the Paraguay river were removed. Even at current levels, industrial shipping on the Paraguay is causing damages to ecosystems in the Pantanal.

The people of the Pantanal are increasingly questioning these industrial schemes. The massive projects will provide few jobs for the people of the region, and thousands will migrate from other regions of Brazil in search of employment, leading to worsening of slums, and a decline in the quality of life for the people of the Pantanal. Child prostitution and cocaine addiction have become serious social problems in the region since the construction of the gas pipeline.

Experience in other regions of Brazil, such as in Cubatão, São Paulo and Camaçari, Bahia, show that heavy, polluting industries do not provide progress for local populations. Multinational corporations get wealthier, while local residents must learn to live with pollution, industrial wastes, and chronic ailments. The so-called "Cancer Alley" along the Mississippi, where many petrochemical plants and other heavy industries have been installed provides evidence of the long-term impacts of polluting industries on riverine and wetlands ecosystems and regional populations.

Related infrastructure development in the form of roads, railways, and ports will further aggravate the irreversible impacts of the industrial complexes on the Pantanal.

Don´t sit back while the Pantanal is destroyed! Take part in the campaign In Defense of the Pantanal - Tell the World by sending your letters of protest via the site http://www.riosvivos.org.br/canal.php?canal=64&mat_id=6081