Emily Y, Horton President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, visited Guyra Paraguay’s Chaco-Pantanal Reserve, in north-east Paraguay including Three Giants Lodge Zoom In

A Presidential visit

05-03-2009

On 7 February, the President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, visited Guyra Paraguay’s (BirdLife in Paraguay) Chaco-Pantanal Reserve, in north-east Paraguay. This area was protected with support from the World Land Trust (WLT).
While in the reserve he stopped off for a few hours at the Three Giants Biological Field station which sits on the bank of the Río Negro. The name comes from the Giant Anteater, the Giant Otter and the Giant Armadillo, which are all found in the Pantanal.

Guyra Paraguay's team, led by its CEO, Alberto Yanosky, and the landscapes programme Co-ordinator, Oscar Rodas, talked with the President about Guyra Paraguay's achievements over the past ten years, in its bid to save this important area of high biodiversity in perpetuity for conservation.

“Having the President visit the reserve meant that we could show him the benefits of biodiversity to local peoples”, said Alberto Yanosky.

The President stressed the importance of the work Guyra Paraguay was doing and expressed a wish to return to spend more time in the region. After his visit he said that this was an area of great environmental importance which deserves to be recognized more widely.

The Pantanal is one of South America’s key ecosystems, being flooded seasonally by freshwater from the central Brazilian highlands.  Situated in the upper watershed of the Paraguay river, to the south of the Amazon basin and east of the Andes, the area represents the most extensive freshwater wetland in the world.

“Having the President visit the reserve meant that we could show him the benefits of biodiversity to local peoples” —Alberto Yanosky, CEO of Guyra Paraguay

In 2005, the Paraguayan Pantanal was designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Guyra Paraguay/BirdLife International based on its importance for congregations of waterbirds and regionally endemic bird species. As well as being important for birds, the Pantanal IBA also represents crucial habitat for a number of other species. Over 300 species of fish, 40 amphibians, 55 reptiles, 120 mammals and 2,000 species of plant are known to exist there. All are  protected within the boundaries of this site.

Guyra Paraguay was recently recognized for their positive contribution to Paraguayan society. The award bestowed by one of Paraguay’s leading newspaper’s was given in recognition of Guyra Paraguay’s struggle to preserve the country’s natural resources and biodiversity, often in the face of great adversity.