Integrated Watershed Management Program for the Pantanal and Upper Paraguay River Basin

This project catalyzes implementation of a detailed watershed management program for the Pantanal and the Upper Paraguay River Basin. Project activities will enhance and restore the environmental functioning of the system; provide protection to endemic species within the wetland; and implement strategic activities, identified in the World Bank-financed PCBAP program, that address the root causes of degradation. These actions with incremental costs will complement basin-scale interventions by the Government of Brazil, financed in part from national and state sources and by international loan funding, and sub-basin scale activities conducted under the World Bank-UNDP PRODEAGRO program, many of which address expected baseline activities. Strengthening of basin institutions, building of agency and organizational capacity, and integration of environmental concerns into economic development activities on a sustainable basis are the key elements of this project.