The governments of Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay have jointly committed to the conservation and sustainable development of the shared Pantanal ecosystem, an area of 20 million hectares and the world’s largest tropical wetland. Noting current development activities which negatively impact the Pantanal ecosystem and social and economic stability, the three governments made the announcement at the conference of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Uruguay in June. Damaging activities include deforestation in the catchment, unsustainable soy  and beef production and damming of waterways for hydropower. The Pantanal is a WWF priority for its role in providing water for human, agricultural and ecosystem services, for navigation, fishing and maintenance of biodiversity.