BE/CNH: Ecosystem Dynamics and Essential Human Needs: Developing an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda in the Plata Basin

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INT 0119961Ratchford, Marina S.American Association for Advancement of ScienceThe Plata Basin comprises the Paraguay-Parana rivers system and the Uruguay river system; it is shared by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. This large and complex river system has high levels of biodiversity and human use, making it an ideal location to test a novel interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder approach for studying the interaction of natural and human systems as well as for planning alternative strategies of sustainable development. The Plata Basin pilot project will focus on the effects of expanding agricultural and cattle-raising activities on biogeochemical cycles, land-use change, levels of biodiversity, and the changing hydrological cycles of the Paraguay and Parana rivers. Computer-based models, using variables reflecting land-use changes, socio-economic data, and climatic information, will be used to better understand the consequences of the flooding cycles of the Paraguay and Parana rivers in the next fifty years.A two-session planning workshop will take place in Argentina in March 2002 to construct a research agenda for the Plata Basin. The workshop will include key political, industrial, and local community stakeholders from the Plata Basin countries, as well as researchers from the region and the U.S. The planning workshop will seek to assess the extent, rate, and impact of the expansion of the agrarian frontier in the Plata Basin. It will also establish a long-term, interdisciplinary research agenda and will evaluate methods of incorporating stakeholder input into appropriate models. A website, with the relevant papers and workshop outcomes will be posted by AAAS, and will include interactive functions to facilitate dialogue and data exchange between members of the scientific community interested in the interaction between natural and human systems. This project is an award emanating from the FY 2001 special competition in Biocomplexity in the Environment focusing on the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems.