The system of national parks in Brazil started in 1937 with the creation of Itatiaia National Park. Another two national parks have been created in 1939, and after a period of 20 years, the program of park creation has been restarted. Since then the number of parks increased steadily to 33 by 1990 and 67 by 2010.[1][2]
The size of the parks varies vastly between the 3,300 ha Tijuca National Park and the 3,800,000 ha Tumucumaque National Park. Of the 67 national parks, 19 are protecting an area representing 5% of the original Amazon Rainforest and another 22 protect 1% of the original Atlantic Forest. Seven parks are protecting the Caatinga ecoregion and twelve the Cerrado ecoregion. There are only six coastal and marine parks, one protecting the Pantanal wetland and none which would protect the Pampas.[1][2]
Only parks with a management plan and a public use plan can be accessed by visitors. By 2010 only 30 parks were accessible to the public. Of these the two most visited were the Tijuca National Park with 1.7 million visitors and the Iguaçu National Park with 1 million visitors, together accounting for 71% of all visitors to national parks in Brazil in 2009.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Ariane Janér: The National Parks of Brazil, EcoBrasil - Brazilian Ecotourism Association
- ^ a b David Braun: Brazil beefs up protection of Atlantic rain forest, in National Geographic, 14 June 2010
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: National parks of Brazil |
- Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and the Legal Amazon (Portuguese only)
- List of all Brazilian national parks with coordinates (in Portuguese)
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