:: DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURE

The accompanying measure is designed to extend the results and methodologies developed with success in the original INCO project “ The Sustainable Management of Wetland Resources in Mercosur” (IC18 CT98 0262) into Paraguay. The measure will increase the network of actors that was created and consolidated in the original INCO project through a collaborative research network and dissemination activities that will involve local and regional actors.

The first activity of the project involves the participation of researchers from Argentina (partners in the INCO project) and their counterparts on the Paraguay side, in particular the local University (Universidad Nacional de Asunción). This first meeting in Paraguay will be dedicated to initiating an exchange process of ideas and approaches utilised in the original INCO project. This will involve the determination of existing information relative to the resource uses of specific wetlands in Paraguay.

The second activity will be performed by each participant in their own institution, utilising the existing resources and the tools developed in the INCO project. The approach will be a feasibility study to see what information exists and what information is required for better quantifying the limits of the sustainable use of the wetland resource. Information will be exchanged and an accompanying measure web site (UNICEN) will be created to set up a common information base for the participants The formation of a local wetland meteorological network with Centro multiuso de monitoreo ambiental e hidrologico Ñangapirí y Los rosales (EU technical assistance programme), to consolidate actual data gathering activities of the EC and the local partner in Argentina related to changes in the wetland microclimates.

The third activity will involve the extension of the already existing collaboration between the Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales de la Argentina (CONAE) and the INCO project (UNICEN, UCADIZ and CSGI) to focus on Paraguay wetlands. Satellite based modelling and classification approaches developed in the INCO project will be extended to the Paraguay wetland. Thematic images will be constructed by project researchers and made available for local and national actors for resource quality monitoring and management. Local researchers will collaborate on the extension of the methodologies developed, thereby extending the value of these tools to a larger area. Satellite images for the wetland will be obtained in collaboration with CONAE, related to the SAC-C mission.

The dissemination of the feasibility study, together with the instruments developed in the original INCO project that will be used in the accompanying measure will be made through a wetland resource management workshop and public conference in Paraguay at the conclusion of the study. This workshop will involve the participation of the Provincial and national government of Paraguay, as well as local actors and associations (Fundacion Vida Silvestre Argentina and EcoGlobal). From the Argentine side, the local landowners associations will participate to contribute their experience in the development of a management approach as well as a representative of the Provincial authorities from Corrientes (Instituto Correntino del Agua y del Ambiente) (AR). Participants from the main research institutions will conduct the workshop which will be dedicated to the examination of the most appropriate methodologies for the management of wetland resources in Paraguay. At the conclusion of the workshop a public conference will be held for a wider dissemination of the results and the potential for future development.

A timetable of activities follows:

Possible participating institutions in the wetland management workshop:

SMA - Secretaria de Medio Ambiente, Governacion del Departamento Central, PG
MEPG- Minister of the Environment, Government of Paraguay
UNICEN - Univ.Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, AR
USAL - Universidad del Salvador, Instituto de Medio Ambiente y Ecologia
CSGI - Consorzio per lo Sviluppo dei Grande Interfase, Dept of Chemical and Biosystem Sciences and Tech., Univ. of Siena, IT
UCADIZ Departamento de Biologia, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y Ambientales, Universidad de Cadiz
UNA - Universidad Nacional de Asunción
UA- Universidad Americana - Research Institute
LABROMA - Laboratorio Centrale di Idrobiologia di Roma, Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali, IT
CENTRO - Centro multiuso de monitoreo ambiental e hidrologico Ñangapirí y Los rosales (EU technical assistance programme)
CONAE - Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales de la Argentina
Fundacion Vida Silvestre Argentina – environmental association
Ecoglobal - environmental association
Fundacion Ibera – Landowners association in Corrientes

The results of the activities will be the following; a wider dissemination of the tools and methodologies developed in the original INCO project, an expanded network of research institutions dedicated to the sustainable management of wetland resources in the Mercosur, a baseline of data for local and regional actors and planners based on the approaches developed in the INCO project, the initiation of a regional dialogue related to the sustainable management of wetland resources.