Guyrá-Piranga Preservação Ambiental is actively involved in carrying out actions aimed at creating the – Rio Pelotas Wildlife Refuge – an area located in the upper Pelotas river basin, on the border of the State of Santa Catarina with the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
The – Rio Pelotas Wildlife Refuge – connecting the Pelotas River and its tributaries with the “São Joaquim National Park”, “Serra Geral National Park” and the “Aguaí State Biological Reserve”, located in the foothills of the Serra Geral.
Imminent environmental threats.
Dozens of Small Hydroelectric Power Plants were designed to be implemented in the tributaries of the upper Pelotas. The indiscriminate proliferation of small hydroelectric projects currently represents the main threat to the rich biodiversity of the upper Pelotas river basin.
The cumulative impacts caused by the implementation of dozens of Small Hydroelectric Power Plants, many of them in sequence, are greater than the environmental impact of installing four large hydroelectric plants.
THE ALTO PELOTAS WATER BASIN IS A PRIORITY AREA FOR BIODIVERSITY WITH EXTREMELY HIGH BIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE AND PRIORITY FOR ACTION.
The riparian forests of the upper Pelotas river basin are home to the last remaining forests in the southern region of Brazil, home to several species of wild flora and fauna, endemic and threatened with extinction, with the occurrence of:
jaguatirica Leopardus pardalis gato-mourisco Herpailurus yagouaroundi puma Puma concolor onça-pintada Panthera onca queixada Tayassu pecari cateto Dicotyles tajacu lontra Lontra longicaudis lagarto-pintado Contomastix vacariensis teiú-gigante Salvator merianae cágado-rajado Phrynops williamsi veado-bororó-do-sul Mazama nana veado-mateiro Mazama americana veado-campeiro Ozotoceros bezoarticus