This side event will explore how regional cooperation frameworks, locally-driven biocultural corridors and citizen science initiatives can jointly strengthen ecological connectivity and the conservation of migratory species in the Paraguay–Paraná Wetland System.

The Paraguay–Paraná Wetland System is the largest fluvial wetland system in the world and a critical migratory corridor for many species, including many waterbirds and other migratory species listed under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), including the jaguar (Panthera onca). Wetlands across the system provide essential feeding, resting, breeding and climate refuge areas along migratory routes, yet are increasingly threatened by agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, wetland degradation and climate change, leading to landscape fragmentation and reduced connectivity.

Building on the Ramsar Regional Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wetlands of the La Plata Basin, approved at Ramsar COP9 (2005), this event will adopt a forward-looking and solution-oriented perspective with examples of citizen science initiatives for waterbirds conservation, like the Neotropical Waterbird Census.

In parallel, the event will highlight the protagonism and contributions of indigenous people and traditional communities to the maintenance of biodiversity levels and ecological connectivity across the Paraguay–Paraná Wetland System. These initiatives will zoom in on the Pantanal, demonstrating how community-based monitoring, territorial stewardship and socio-environmental justice can contribute to migratory species conservation and to the construction of bottom-up participatory governance models interacting with regional, national and global frameworks.