Goals
Pantanal
With the goal of mitigating threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Pantanal and bordering Cerrado highlands, WCS-Brazil is partnering with private landowners, government research agencies, NGOs, and regional universities to prevent additional deforestation and native vegetation conversions, and promote the implementation of more efficient and sustainable land use practices in areas already being used for ranching and farming.
By promoting the use of land use practices that are both environmentally-friendly and economically more profitable, the WCS-Brazil program is eliminating incentives that drive deforestation and native vegetation conversions.
Our conservation strategy includes:
Studies and monitoring of target species, ecological communities, and ecosystems vulnerable to regional environmental threats.
Dissemination of research results showing the impacts of threats, as well as the benefits of sustainable land use practices, on target species, communities, and ecosystems.
Additional research and monitoring to test, improve, and promote the use of environmentally-friendly and more profitable land use practices.
Development and promotion of new or established financial mechanisms that assist landowners during the transition to more sustainable land use practices, e.g., low-interest loans, tax incentives for establishment of private reserves (RPPNs), ecotourism operations, and property certification schemes based on preservation of native vegetation (carbon stocks) and/or ecosystem services.
And an educational outreach program that targets landowners,students from rural schools, and other rural community sectors, and stresses the importance of preserving regional ecosystem services and biodiversity, demonstrates the benefits of adopting sustainable land use practices, and provides technical training courses to implement the practices.