Brazil enlarges Pantanal Matogrossense National Park by more than a quarter
Brazilian authorities have added 185 square miles to a national park in the Pantanal, the world's largest flooded grassland and home to the densest jaguar population on Earth.
Brazil has made Pantanal Matogrossense National Park more than a quarter bigger, adding 185 square miles to a reserve that previously covered 523 square miles.
For a sense of scale, the new land is close to the size of America’s Redwoods National Park, so it is no small extra helping.
The park sits within the Pantanal, the largest flooded grassland anywhere in the world. Its wildlife tally is remarkable: 463 bird species, 269 types of fish, well over a hundred kinds of reptiles and amphibians, and upwards of 236 mammal species. Tapirs, giant anteaters, giant armadillos and giant otters all live there, alongside the planet’s biggest concentration of jaguars.
According to a Brazilian news report, the move answers a long-standing call from experts and environmentalists. They had argued that the breeding areas many of these animals rely on needed firmer protection.
The park is run by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, known as ICMBio. Its staff have mapped the biological corridors that let animals travel between the park and the land around it. Those routes matter for keeping gene pools varied, especially among endangered species, and looking after them depends on talking to local landowners and working with them.
The park was recognised under the United Nations’ Ramsar Convention on wetlands 33 years ago. In keeping with that agreement’s spirit, more and more of the Pantanal is being brought under protection, as its landscape remains under pressure from fires and droughts.
Keeping the Pantanal and the rivers that feed it free from harm helps the land hold on to its sponge-like quality, which is central to how well it bounces back. A larger park is a welcome boost on that front.
Why it matters
Wildlife rarely stays politely within a boundary line, so protecting breeding grounds and the corridors that link them gives animals room to move, find mates and keep their populations genetically healthy. That is especially important for endangered species. Wetlands such as the Pantanal also act like a giant sponge, and safeguarding them helps the region cope with the strain of fire and drought. Extending protection here, with landowners involved, is a practical step towards securing one of the planet’s most biodiverse places.
