| Fast Facts |
location
Amazônia covers half of Brazil; Acre state and Serra do Divisor are in far western Brazil, on border with Peru
ecoregion
Southwest Amazon
project size
5 million acres (Serra do Divisor National Park and associated indigenous and extractive reserves)
public lands
Serra do Divisor National Park
partners
SOS Amazônia, IBAMA (Brazilian EPA)
natural events
the Amazon River floods the forest annually | |
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In the Amazon Basin, indigenous lands hold the key to the future of the largest remaining expanse of tropical forest on Earth. |
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Mists enshroud the Amazon’s riotous vegetation.
© Frans Lanting/Minden Pictures |
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The Amazon Basin covers an area almost the size of the contiguous United States. Beginning just 100 miles from the Pacific Ocean in the ice fields of the Andes, the Amazon River rolls 4,000 miles eastward to the Atlantic -- in volume nearly one-quarter of the world's freshwater flow. So mighty is this outflow of fresh water into the ocean that a Spanish explorer in 1500 named it the "Sweet Sea," failing to comprehend that it might be a river.
The cause célèbre of the conservation movement, Amazônia is recognized as the planet's greatest reserve of life forms. Here the largest continuous expanse of tropical forest on Earth harbors approximately one-third of her species. Despite three centuries of scientific study, only a small fraction of its biological richness has |
Red uakari. © Claus Meyer/Minden Pictures |
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been revealed. On a single tree in western Amazônia, biologist E.O. Wilson once found 43 species of ants -- the equivalent of the entire ant fauna of the British Isles. New discoveries are revealed monthly. A four-week-long rapid ecological assessment in 1997 in Brazil's far western state of Acre revealed three new species of birds; in summer 2002, two new species of monkeys were discovered. Its creatures are fantastic and multi-hued, from the 7-inch-wide blue Morpho butterfly to the pink river dolphins that, in the local mythology, can assume human form and seduce their daughters. | |
But the Amazon is being rapidly deforested as roads are built into the interior and as ranchers turn forest into pasture. To effect conservation on such a challenging scale, The Nature Conservancy gives priority to the most threatened landscapes, such as that of Serra do Divisor National Park, on Brazil's border with Peru. The park spreads across 2 million acres of the state of Acre, the homeland of rubber tree-tapper Chico Mendes, who was killed trying to protect these forests.
Surrounding the park are some 3 million acres of indigenous and extractive reserves, set aside for the exclusive use of forest peoples -- perhaps the best hope for long-term conservation of the forest. The reserves are the result of a long struggle on the part of indigenous communities to own and manage their lands. In the 1990s they won legal title, and indigenous lands now represent 25 percent of the Brazilian Amazon. The Conservancy is working with the federal government and indigenous communities to create community-based, community-supported environmental management plans for the reserves.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in Brazil. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
primates such as white uakarí and Goeldi marmoset, tapirs, jaguars, palm and bamboo forests, bromeliads, submontane dwarf forest, freshwater turtles
stresses
deforestation due to logging, ranching and infrastructure expansion; overhunting and overfishing
strategies
build conservation alliances, strengthen local partner organizations, work with indigenous communities to create community-supported environmental management plans, promote ecologically compatible land-use practices, work with ranchers to minimize impact of grazing
results
Consolidation of conservation planning on the Brazilian and Peruvian sides of the region in the mosaic of protected areas, private areas and indigenous lands | | | | |
