Iberá Wetlands

Iberá Wetlands
Esteros del Iberá
Yno'õ Y Vera
Iberá Wetlands; Esteros del Iberá; Yno'õ Y Vera
	Aerial view of the Iberá Provincial Reserve
Map
Geography
Location	Argentina
Area	20,000 km2 (7,700 sq mi)

The Iberá Wetlands (Spanish: Esteros del Iberá, from Guaraní ý berá: "bright water") are a mix of swamps, bogs, stagnant lakes, lagoons, natural slough, and courses of water in the center and center-north of the province of Corrientes, Argentina.

Iberá is one of the most important freshwater reservoirs in South America and the second-largest wetland in the world after Pantanal in Brazil.^[1] It is of pluvial origin, with a total area of 15,000–20,000 km² (5,800–7,700 sq mi).

Since 1982, part of the wetland is included within a provincial protected area, the Iberá Provincial Reserve, which comprises about 13,000 km² (5,000 sq mi), the largest of such areas in Argentina. There are ongoing plans to further up its protection status to national park.^{[verification needed]}

It is home to a wide variety of fauna, including capybara, 60 species of reptiles including caimans and snakes,^[2] frogs, anteaters, otters, several species of deer, and over 350 species of birds. The region was once threatened by poaching, cattle ranching, and foresting which threatened several of these species, but thanks to a rewilding initiative, several species have been re-introduced, including the jaguar. This initiative also sought to reorient the economy of the area to be more focused on tourism, in order to keep the newly reintroduced species populations safe.^[3]