RAINFOREST GETS PROTECTED STATUS

[Anonymous]

Rainforest gets protected status
Vast tracts of rainforest in Brazil are to get a new protected status.
The
segments of land in the northern Para state together cover 16.4 million
hectares (63,320 sq miles), an area of land that is bigger than
England.Thousands of wildlife species inhabit the pristine forest,
including jaguars, anteaters and colourful macaws.Campaigners say the
decision made by Para Governor Simao Jatene is one of the most
important conservation initiatives of recent years.It will protect the
land from the unsustainable logging and agriculture practices that have
blighted many parts of the Amazon.”If any tropical rainforest on Earth
remains intact a century from now, it will be this portion of northern
Amazonia, due in large part to the governor’s visionary achievement,”
said Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International.”The
region has more undisturbed rainforest than anywhere else, and the new
protected areas being created by Para state represent an historic step
toward ensuring that they continue to conserve the region’s rich
biodiversity and maintain its essential ecosystem services.”

Conservation corridor
Nine
new areas will gain protection, and they will link with existing
reserves to form a huge conservation corridor in the northern
Amazon.This corridor, known as the Guyana Shield region, stretches from
neighbouring Guyana, Surinam and French Guiana into Brazil.It is
regarded a global conservation priority, containing more than 25% of
Earth’s humid tropical forests. Almost 90% of the Guyana Shield forest
is untouched, and the area also contains the most significant
freshwater reserves in the American tropics: almost 20% of the world’s
water runs through it.Endangered species in the new protected areas
include the giant otter and northern bearded saki monkey; and
“flagship” species such as the jaguar, giant anteater and black spider
monkey.Since 1970, more than 600,000 sq kilometres (230,000 sq miles)
of Amazon rainforest – an area larger than France – is said to have
been destroyed.Conservation International said continued deforestation
at this rate would place the entire region in peril by 2050, and place
increasing pressure on the planet from the additional greenhouse gasses
being pumped into the atmosphere, which would usually stored by the
trees.Adalberto Verissimo, senior researcher at the Amazon Institute of
People and the Environment (Imazon), which is working in collaboration
with the Para State Government and Conservation International (CI),
said: “This is the greatest effort in history toward the creation of
protected areas in tropical forests.”

[Author]

December 11, 2006 at 12:41 PM