'Noah's ark' in peril as cargo ships size up new routes

As the evening sky turns violet, the animals of the Pantanal gather near the water. Capybaras swim in tight formation, roseate spoonbills add smudges of pink to the riverbanks, the rumble of a jaguar pulsates from the forest.
This tropical wetland is the world's largest, stretching across Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, and hosts some of the greatest gatherings of animals anywhere. Now, scientists say the survival of the entire biome is at risk.
"The Pantanal is like Noah's ark. It is ... a place where those at risk of extinction can survive," said Pierre Girard, a professor at the Federal University of Mato Grosso. "That could be about to change. The Pantanal, as we know it, could soon cease to exist." The 17m hectare wild expanse harbours one of the world's most biologically rich environments, with at least 380 species of fish, 580 types of birds and 2,272 different plants. It is one of the main refuges for jaguars and houses a host of vulnerable and endangered species, including giant river otters, giant armadillos and hyacinth macaws.
But plans are under way to revive a project to turn the Paraguay River, one of the Pantanal's main arteries, into an industrial shipping route for crops such as soya beans and sugar.
Proponents say the waterway would reduce costs and time for exporting agricultural commodities but critics warn that its creation - which involves building new ports, possibly straightening bends and large-scale dredging - would cause irreversible damage to the wetland and wildlife.
"It seems a high price to pay: destroying the Pantanal, one of the world's unique systems, to reduce the price of grain," said Carolina Joana da Silva, a professor at Mato Grosso State University. "It is a war - a war which risks extinction." In a communal fishers' work shed in Cáceres, 64-year-old Elza Basto Pereira, the head of the community, said construction materials began arriving along the river six months ago.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 16, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 16, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Alison's world The graphic novelist faces up to midlife in this playfully fictionalised memoir
Alison Bechdel emerged in the 1980s with Dykes to Watch Out For, a groundbreaking weekly strip that featured a group of mostly lesbian friends. Since then, her acclaimed graphic novels have focused mainly on herself and her family.
I need to drop everything and get on with doing nothing, quickly
I am sitting in my office shed, marvelling that an email from a car hire company I last used six years ago feels entitled to employ the subject line DROP EVERYTHING.

Fire starter Springsteen's anti-Trump broadside divides fans
As the lead singer of a Bruce Springsteen cover band, Brad Hobicorn had been looking forward to performing at Riv's Toms River Hub in New Jersey last Friday.
A new Syria: sanctions relief gives the shattered country a chance to rebuild
The startled joy that greeted Bashar al-Assad's fall six months ago was shadowed by the fear of what might follow.
I wanted us to finish our journey on a high'
Saint Etienne are calling it a day after 35 years. They discuss their final album, turning down Cher's Believe and a career defined by friendship and invention

The museum of absolutely everything
Poison darts, a dome from Spain, priceless spoons and Frank Lloyd Wright furniture... our architecture critic is wowed by the V&A's new east London outpost for 250,000 of its mind-boggling artefacts

Over a barrel Shortage of sugar shakes Cuba's rum industry
It is a crisis that would have sent a shiver down Ernest Hemingway’s drinking arm. Cuba’s communist government is struggling to process enough sugar to make the rum for his beloved mojitos and daiquiris.

Whiz up or wing it? Dips worth doing yourself and the ones to buy
Is it always better to make your own dips, or can I just buy them?

How a tiny village was engulfed by a mountain
It took a couple of minutes for 9m tonnes of rock to obliterate Blatten-but as glaciers melt, such disasters are more likely
Time warp Romance is beautifully drawn in a tale of two couples whose lives overlap, a century apart
Time is layered in Northern Irish writer David Park's latest novel.