Lagarto, Montanhas do Tumucumaque, Amapá, Brazil.
© Enrico Bernard
Located in the extreme north of Brazil, the state of Amapá is one of the nine states that form the Brazilian Amazon. With over 143,000 square kilometers (almost 88,900 square miles), an area the size of the state of Florida, Amapá has a population of 550,000, 90 percent of whom live in urban areas.
The state contains innumerous traditional and indigenous populations, who for centuries have lived in harmony with natural ecosystems, using them in a sustainable way for their livelihood. The name Amapá means “the place of rain” in the Tupi language. The abundant rain and diversified relief explain, in part, the extraordinary diversity of natural ecosystems in the state.
Amapá contains tropical forests, mangrove swamps, savannahs and wetlands. The corridor area covers 72 percent of the state and entangles 12 protected areas and five indigenous reserves. Among the Corridor's jewels is Montanhas do Tumucumaque National Park, which, at 3.8 million hectares (9.4 million acres) is the world's second largest tropical forest park. The state has one of the lowest deforestation rates in the country (less than 2 percent of the state territory, until 2008).
Efforts to combine conservation and development are not new in Amapá; since 2001, CI has provided the state with both financial and technical support. In 2003, the creation of the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor was announced during the World Parks Conference in Durban, South Africa. The corridor is now composed of 12 protected areas and five indigenous lands, totaling approximately 10 million hectares (almost 25 million acres).
December 4th, 2009: We at Conservation International (CI), together with the government and people of the Amapá state in the northern Amazon region of Brazil, are happy to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor, one of the world’s most innovative conservation initiatives in one of the planet’s most diverse regions.
September 27, 2006: The law creating the forest, signed by state governor Antônio Waldez Goés da Silva, protects a vast expanse of forest in the northernmost region of the Brazilian Amazon. The new preserve stems largely from the efforts of CI and its Brazilian partners who have worked together for four years to push the designation.