ABSTRACT
The Pantanal plays a major role in the worldwide discussion of sustainable management and protection of wetlands. The government has fostered and supported the creation and operation of the Pantanal Research Center (CPP) as well as it has financed the construction of the Pantanal Research Institute at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) in Cuiab. This chapter talks about the demands for strict conservation of NGOs that are not helpful in furthering political discussions Ioris offers a profound analysis of the socio-ecological disruption in the Brazilian part of the Pantanal. The chapter considers the large parts of the Pantanal not as pristine wetlands but as a carefully managed cultural landscape and one of the very few examples of the sustainable use of a tropical ecosystem by European immigrants. Modern wetland-friendly approaches, such as the Environmental Flow Assessment, successfully established in Australia and several South African countries.
