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Home » What we do » WWF's 50th Anniversary » Stories from the field: rescuing Brazil’s wetlands

Rescuing Brazil’s wetlands

Varzea Flooded Forest, is a breeding ground for more than 200 fish species

Another inspiring example of how our work is making a real difference across the natural world... It’s not only the rainforest we’re helping protect in Brazil. In such a huge and diverse country, there are all kinds of wondrous landscapes and species that sometimes need help to thrive amid the demands of a rapidly developing economy. There’s the Cerrado savannah, of course, but also the less-known but equally important Varzea floodplain…

For centuries, Brazil’s Amazon floodplain, the Varzea, was prized for its fish-filled wetlands and fertile soil. Not just a place of natural beauty, but a crucial source of food and income for the local inhabitants, who include some of the poorest people in the world.

But by the 1990s – after decades of commercial agriculture, cattle farming and over-fishing – the Varzea had become one of the most endangered ecosystems in Brazil.

In 1994, WWF’s freshwater specialist team helped set up the Varzea project, along with the Institute of Environmental Research in the Amazon (IPAM) – at a single lake to begin with, working on informal fishing rights with a small group of local communities.

Today the Varzea project involves 180 communities and around 35,000 people, helping them sustainably manage the dozens of lakes in the area. We host workshops and have trained over 200 local fishermen in management and conservation techniques.

A fisherman casts his fishing net in the shallow lakes of the varzea

The best managed lakes have seen fishing catch increases of as much as 60%.

As a result of our training programmes, one local fisherman, Rivelino, became a councillor for the local government. And one of IPAM’s staff is now Secretary of Fishing at the state government. Those are great personal success stories but also important for the project, as they can positively influence the new institutions from the inside.

In June 2010 the project reached a critical milestone. The 15 community fishing areas were finally granted official legal status – meaning the local managers can impose regulations not only on their own community residents, but on outsiders.

Cattle rearing in the Amazon

For example, a neighbouring rancher who would formerly move his cattle into the floodplain in the dry season, damaging the fish habitats for the flood season on San Miguel Island, was formally “invited to a General Assembly” where the legality of the community rules were restated.

The rancher in question acknowledged the importance of this groundbreaking change, saying: “Based on the clarifications made in this meeting, I can join other community members to construct a new relationship of friendship”.

Teaching local communities how to engage in collective action has often helped communities to progress projects in other fields, such as health and education.

So it’s not just fish numbers and local incomes that have been improving in the Varzea – it’s the wellbeing of the people and the environment too.

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