Overview of the Paraguay Hydrographic Region

The Paraguay Hydrographic Region is important within the national context as it includes the Pantanal, one of the largest extensions of freshwater wetlands on the planet, declared a National Heritage Site by the Federal Constitution of 1988 and a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2000.

This summarized overview of the region presents data on socio-economic aspects, water availability and usage and basic sanitation indicators, as well as a brief summary of the current issues regarding the use of water resources and of the aims for the future.

Figure 1 The Paraguay Hydrographic region