| The territory of Argentine inclosed between the two rivers of Parana` and Uruguay presents characteristics of absolute unicity under geomorphologic and hydrological aspects, but is very much interesting also for its extraordinary fuana and flora diversity. The management and sustainable development of the natural resources of the Esteros del Ibera` (13.000 km2 of wetlands in the north east area of Argentina - Province of Corrientes) is a primary objective for the local Province Government, but it is also for this that the European Union has funded a multidisclinary research project, coordinated by the University of Siena (Italy), which will produce innovative management tools for a sustainable use of these resources. The international Research Group is made of 11 research university and governmental board institutions from the European Union (Italy, Spain, Great Britain and Portugal), together with Argentina and Brazil. Preliminary public meetings have been promoted and held with different social realities (teachers, university lectures, local industrial managers, religious members, local and regional politicians, etc.) as to gather information about real possible scenarios for the use of the territory and of local population needs. Automatic instruments have been setup for long term monitoring: meteorological, hydrological and hydrometrical stations were set on the Lagoon of Ibera` and Lagoon of Galarza and close by areas. Accurate studies are carried out on the biology and ecology of the aquatic community and on the carismatic species of large vertebrates (cayman, cormorant, otter, marsh deer and capybara). For these species dynamical qualitative and quantitative models will be developed to analyze the effects on their abbundance caused by possible ecosystem functionality modifications. The study will be completed with an eco-economic model that will be developed to analyze potential scenarios of the use of the territory and of its resources (eco-tourism, controlled hunting, water use for rice productions etc.) and possible modifications of the functionality and integrity of this unique macro-system in local and regional socio-economic terms. |