One Health tropical wetlands: a transdisciplinary framework for assessing the risks of emerging zoonotic diseases in the Brazilian Pantanal

The Pantanal wetland ecosystem of Brazil is experiencing unprecedented local challenges from anthropogenic pressures, as well as from global climate change. These pressures escalate the zoonotic risks from wildlife populations, whose own susceptibility to disease is enhanced by stressors including habitat loss and fragmentation with the resulting decrement in food availability, immunity and resilience in the face of compounding disease risks. This continuous degradation and fragmentation of the ecosystem increases interactions between animals and humans (including indigenous peoples and local communities) further increasing disease risks for the human populations. Weak health systems across the Pantanal are reflected in limited pathogen surveillance, and poor sanitation and disease control measures, serving to further amplify the region’s epidemic and pandemic potential. Using a transdisciplinary One Health (OH) approach to understand the ecological, social and biological drivers of infectious diseases, our research network developed a framework to conceptualise the current tools, evidence and processes for effective research and knowledge production in the Pantanal Wetland ecosystem. Drawing on the expertise of researchers and non-academic key-stakeholders can inform the work of global OH research networks and strengthen the evidence base for OH policy and practice in the Pantanal and other tropical wetland systems.