The Pantanal, meaning swamp or marsh in Portuguese, is the world’s largest wetland. Encompassing an area of at least 150,000 square kilometers, (an area larger than Bangladesh), the Pantanal lies mostly in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, with small portions in Paraguay and Bolivia. Eighty percent of the Pantanal floods during the wet season when water levels rise as high as three meters. The region is home to one of the highest diversities and concentrations of fauna in the world, including the world’s largest jaguars.
Ninety-five percent of the Pantanal is privately owned with the land used mainly for cattle ranching and agriculture. With as many as 2,500 ‘Fazendas’, or ranches, and up to eight million cattle grazing in the region, the Pantanal is an area wrought with jaguar-cattle conflict. Perceived as ‘cattle-killers’ and believed a threat local livelihoods, jaguars are often killed on sight by the local people, called Pantanieros.
Read Panthera's Jaguar Report Card: The State of the Jaguar.
A multi-faceted approach
Panthera’s Pantanal Project is a unique initiative with dual objectives: creating one of the world’s largest, intact protected jaguar corridors, and establishing, within the corridor, a replicable model where cattle ranching is both financially profitable and compatible with jaguar conservation. Panthera is currently working on two contiguous Fazenda’s, totaling 700 square kilometers and with 5000 head of cattle, all managed by an expert rancher and Pantaniero – Mr. Joaquim Proença. At the site, a team of researchers led by Brazilian jaguar expert Dr. Sandra Cavalcanti is working to understand jaguar behavior, ecology, and their interactions with livestock. The senior project advisor, Dr. Rafael Hoogesteijn - a veterinarian, cattle rancher, and jaguar expert - is working to link jaguar conservation and cattle management through better cattle husbandry techniques and rangeland management practices. As part of the program, Pantanieros and other local people are encouraged to help collect data, learn more about jaguars, and become involved in co-management practices. Recent increases in ecotourism in the area are already showing that jaguars could provide positive economic benefits to local livelihoods.
Panthera is working with existing partners, including private landowners, government officials, and non-government agencies, to coordinate its own jaguar research and conservation activities with the activities of partners in other parts of the Pantanal. Only through a coordinated effort on both public and private lands can we maintain enough contiguous jaguar habitat and natural prey populations to ensure genetic connectivity, develop jaguar-friendly landscapes, and ensure a future for the jaguar in the region.
Promoting community buy-in
As a next step, Panthera plans to expand its efforts to create the world’s foremost jaguar research center, where experts and students can conduct research, learn new techniques, and hold workshops where lessons learned from the Pantanal can be carried to other parts of the jaguars’ range. Since the support and understanding of local communities are keys to our success, Panthera will be working in collaboration with the world renowned Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute in New York City to bring needed healthcare and infrastructure to the region. In addition, a satellite school will be established and staffed at one of the ranches for local children and their families who currently lack access to such facilities.
The Pantanal is one of earth’s biological gems. The jaguars, the people, and the traditions are all part of the fabric that has kept this very special place intact for so long. Panthera will commit significant resources to help ensure that the Pantanal and all of its wildlife are there for many generations to come.
