Brazil has new protected areas in Bahia

On Thursday (June 10), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced the creation of four new environmental conservation areas in Brazil, and the expansion of a national park. All areas are located in the Atlantic Forest biome, in Bahia state, in regions which are characterized by biological diversity. The new units will be essential for protecting endangered species.

The initiative reinforces the option of Brazil for conservation of biodiversity and the fight against climate change. The country has already pledged before the United Nations to reduce by 80% deforestation in the Amazon by 2020, which guarantees a 21% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions forecast for that year, as well as actions in the areas of agriculture and farming, energy, and steelmaking. Regarding biodiversity, in addition to conservation, Brazil advocates the responsible and sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing with traditional and indigenous communities of the benefits arising from genetic heritage - positions that will be advocated by the country at the United Nations Conference on the topic next October, in Nagoya (Japan).

In total, Brazil currently has 307 federal protected areas, covering an area of 768,488 km², equivalent to the sum of the areas of Italy, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland. In this context, the country leads the creation of protected areas in the period 2003-2010, with an expansion of about 269,000 km² and 73 new protected areas. It is worth mentioning that the 700 thousand km² turned into protected areas (conservation units) in the whole world since 2003, almost three quarters are in Brazil, a result largely attributed to the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA).

With the creation of the National Parks of Alto Cariri, Boa Nova and Serra das Lontras, the Wildlife Refuge of Boa Nova, and expansion of the Pau Brasil National Park, the total areas to be created reach 65,070 hectares. The regions where the conservation units are located have high potential for ecotourism and bird watching, as it boasts endemic species with restricted occurrence. The region is already considered in international tours for bird watching.

For the Atlantic Forest in Bahia, this represents an increase of about 60% in the full conservation unit area, and a 5% increase in total conservation units, taking into consideration both full protection and sustainable use. These are significant values as the Atlantic Forest biome is the one with the smallest area of original remnants.

The region of the Alto Cariri National Park, with an area of 19,264 hectares, in the municipality of Guaratinga, has high biological importance for conservation as it is home to the last large-scale body of Atlantic Forest fragments in eastern region of southern Bahia and northeast of Minas Gerais state.

The region of the Boa Nova National Park and Boa Nova Wildlife Refuge, with total area of 27,089 hectares, includes a transition between rainforests and thus presents high biodiversity, sheltering species of both Atlantic Forest and Caatinga biomes, with many rare and endemic species.

The region of the Serra das Lontras National Park covers an area of 11,336 hectares. The protected area aims at protecting especially the Montana Forest, a distinctive landscape of the Atlantic Forest, which occurs above 400 meters high.

Besides the new conservation units, Bahia will have an extension of the Pau Brasil National Park, located in the municipality of Porto Seguro, with additional 7,381 hectares, totaling an area of 18,934 hectares.