This report presents the assessment of the GIWA region Brazil Current, including drainage basins and their associated coastal/marine zones. Three separate sub-regions have been assessed within the region: the South/Southeast Atlantic Basins, East Atlantic Basins, and So Francisco River Basin. Increased anthropogenic pressures due to economic development and urbanisation in the coastal area have polluted the water environment and caused severe impact on important ecosystems such as coastal plains and mangrove ecosystems. Significant changes in the suspended solids transport/sedimentation dynamics in the river basins due to unsustainable land use practices associated to intense deforestation and damming has caused increasing erosion of coastal zones, siltation of riverbeds, and modified the stream flows resulting in periods of water scarcity and flooding in some basins. The root causes of pollution and habitat and community modification are identified for the bi-national Mirim Lagoon Basin, a transboundary freshwater body shared between Brazil and Uruguay, and Doce River Basin that hosts biomes of global importance. Potential remedial policy options are presented.

The present report provides rapid reviews of the conservation status and conservation actions undertaken for the 43 CMS Concerted Action Species (Res. Conf 7.1). Information has been chiefly compiled from sources integrated through the CMS Information Management System (CMS IMS). These include internet sites and databases of specialised agencies, as well as data available from the CMS Party Reports Database, and at UNEP-WCMC.