Goals
Our long-term goal for Amazon is:
WCS Brazil seeks to conserve the flooded forests, lakes, and floating meadows of the Amazonas State, that are the most critical habitat for the iconic fauna of the lowland western Amazon.
Conservation Approach:
Years of conservation and research in the Amazon have deepened our understanding of flooded forest ecosystems and the importance of their biodiversity, including the aquatic forms as much as the terrestrial ones. Important advances have been made, especially in terms of management and conservation of fish and other aquatic species at local scales. These advances have improved the quality of life of many local people who depend on these species for subsistence.
However, these positive developments have also demonstrated the challenges associated with managing complex hydrological dynamics and species that move large distances during their life cycles, and have highlighted the need for management of aquatic resources at multiple scales, from the community scale to the scale of entire hydrological basins.
Building on long history of work in flooded forests and community-based management of natural resources, WCS-Brazil´ "Amazonian Waters"team is developing tools, mechanisms and partnerships that enable conservation and management at the scales necessary for sustaining the biological diversity and economic productivity of aquatic ecosystems in the Amazon.