:: OBJECTIVES

The INCO DEV project entitled “The Sustainable Management of Wetland Resources in Mercosur” (IC18 CT98 0262) which began in November 1998 and was completed in December 2001 has had an important impact on wetland resource decision making in Argentina and surrounding countries. The project became the base upon which a large number of extended collaborations were founded. These include a scientific collaboration with the CONAE (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales de la Argentina) which has led to the construction of a number of important instruments for wetland analysis and management. There has been a growing role of the project researchers and the project results in the resource planning activities on the local (Instituto Correntino del Agua y del Ambiente) and national level. Important interactions with NGOs (Fundacion Vida Silvestre Argentina, Fundacion Ibera) and local producers’ associations (Asociacion de Productores de la Cuenca del Batel-Batelito, Sociedad Rural de Ituzaingo) have increased the impact of the INCO project on a regional basis. This is particularly important in relation with the recent (1/2002) declaration of the project study site, the Esteros del Ibera, as a Ramsar wetland of international importance.

As a result of the success of the original project, other regional research institutions have begun to show interest in the approaches developed in the INCO project. However, there has been some difficulty in transferring the instruments and methodologies to the local and national decision makers. The present accompanying measure is based on the results of the original INCO project and is directed at increasing the regional impact of the tools and methodologies therein developed.

While there was a significant success in the regional dissemination activities of the original project, some difficulties were found in communicating the project results to local and national decision makers in Paraguay.

To overcome these difficulties and extend the positive benefits of the INCO project into the Paraguay wetland management the present accompanying measure has been created. The basic goal of the measure is to extend the wetland resource management network of Mercosur scientists and to explore the use of instruments developed in the original INCO project in wetland resource management in Paraguay.

The specific project objectives are to

• increase the dissemination of the tools and methodologies developed in the original INCO project,
• create an expanded network of research institutions dedicated to the sustainable management of wetland resources in the Mercosur,
• identify the baseline data requirements for local and regional actors and planners based on the approached developed in the INCO project,
• initiate a regional dialogue related to the sustainable management of wetland resources, with the aim of strengthening the development of cultural tourism integrating Iberá, Misiones y Paraguay