Argentina /
THE SHIP WHERE PARANÁ WETLANDS CENTRE
WILL OPERATE IS BEING REPAIRED
• Proteger collaborated in refloating it and brought it to our city.
• The boat almost sank at Santa Fe port, at present is being repaired at local port.
• The idea is to use the ship for training, education, riverside knowledge and cultural rescue activities.
Paraná, Argentina, 8th January 2006 (El Diario).- Repairing tasks are being carried out on the naval platform of 40 metres long and seven width located at Paraná’s New Port, it is intended to become the Paraná Wetlands Centre, an ambitious project that is being promoted by Fundación Proteger since 2003.
It was precisely at the end of that year that Juan Peter, local businessman, informed PROTEGER that a ship supported by him for thirty years was almost sunk at Santa Fe Port and asked PROTEGER cooperation to refloat it, in order to start recovering it and helping the project become real.
Based on this fact a hard task began to repair the ship’s hull and refloating it. That part of the recent story was performed by two skillful divers from Entre Ríos and some technicians, all of them under Peter’s driving, a man of extensive experience in river and ships topics.
An Old Story
Once the water course was blocked, the liquid filling the hold was pumped and the ship floated again. Finally, and after overcoming long procedures and essential naval inspections, on the first day of June 2005 the ship crossed the wide Paraná; more than twenty kilometers from Santa Fe’s port to its present location.
Actually the amazing story begins long before and losts itself in the mist of time at the beginning of last century, when a Dutch firm supposedly built this colossal floating base using cement for the whole structure, including the hull and the deck.
In fact Fundación Proteger proposal became real starting from the idea that such activities like training, educative, and riverside, islands and wetlands knowledge and cultural rescue would be specially motivated if carried out in the same fluvial system and not on dry land.
In this way it was born the purpose of counting on the structure in the style of the old floating cement docks, made in Netherlands, which arrived at the beginning of 20th Century and are still anchored in Hernandarias (Entre Ríos) and Helvecia (Santa Fe).
An appealing proposal
Paraná Wetlands Reference Centre, will be the first in kind in Argentina and South America, being a pioneer initiative, has already aroused National and International interest since it promotes wise use of wetlands in the same environment it attempts to preserve. Furthermore it will be equipped with renewable and clean energies, such as solar, wind and biogas", specified Jorge Cappato, , general director of PROTEGER and non government focal point for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
"Once concluded, the floating centre will be energy independent, selfsufficient and zero pollutant, turning it into an attraction point; it will be an educational and a technological innovation by itself”, remarked.
"Solved over a floating base having a total of 600 squared meters, including the large holds which are very useful spaces, not only are we imagining a multiple uses room but also an interactive museum and an exhibition hall; in fact we have already carried out some workshops at the restored deck", remarked Cappato in dialogue with EL DIARIO.
"The Center will be at the service of training and development of productive and sustainable trade initiatives at a demostrative scale, managed by riparian communities with a view to improve their incomes", explained Julieta Peteán, in charge of Proteger´s Wetlands Programme.
"Moreover, it will be a window for products based on fish, regional handicrafts and ecoturism initiatives, such as Baqueanos del Río’s ", added.
"It will soon become a point to exhibit productive alternatives made out of wetlands´ resources, such as added value fish by-products; there are already very successful experiencies in countries like Brazil, Uruguay and Ecuador. It is our attempt as well to perform scientific activities in the near future", declared Peteán.
On the hand, Leticia Isaurralde, born in Entre Rios and who actively takes part of the project coordination, stressed that "this floating center has recently received an Statement of Interest from the Production Department of Entre Ríos and from the National Members of Parliament, has been recognized by important firms, and supported by the Dutch Embassy, the British Embassy and the Swiss Embassy in Argentina".
“We are now waiting to be received by Mayor Julio Solanas, for even if it will certainly attrack the attention of National and foreign visitors, Paraná’s community will be primarily benefited by this initiative", emphasized Isaurralde.
A tresure we must protect
The creation of Wetlands Reference Centers adjusts to the Ramsar Convention guidelines, through its Communication, Education and Public Awareness Programme (CEPA).
The first centers are situated in Canada, India, Australia, Japan and Austria. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty approved on 2nd February 1971, in the Iranian city of the same name, on the shore of the Caspian Sea and has been ratified by Argentina. Our country has 14 Ramsar Sites, designated as wetlands of "international interest"; two of which, Humedales Chaco and Jaaukanigás (Santa Fe), are on the littoral fluvial.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, defines wise use of wetlands as "sustainable utilization for the benefit of mankind in a way compatible with the maintenance of the natural properties of the ecosystem". Sustainable utilization is understood as "human use of a wetland so that it may yield the greatest continuous benefit to present generations while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations".
Wetlands, in our case Paraná islands, lagoons and marshes, perfom a number of irreplaceable functions such as the provision and depuration of freshwater, groundwater recharge and help reduce the effects of both flood and drought, apart from being enormous and natural fish breeding areas, not to mention cultural and recreational values. "Hand in hand with water, wetlands represent 21st Century scarcest and vital element becoming an outstanding issue nationwide and worldwide; in this sense fluvial littoral region is a privileged one across the country ", finally declared Peteán.
Those interested can write to humedales.proteger@arnet.com.ar
Further information and photos (english):
http://www.proteger.org.ar/documento.php?id=442
Further information and photos (spanish):
http://www.proteger.org.ar/documento.php?id=440
Source: El Diario, Paraná.
