The Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor ( Portuguese: ''Corredor Central da Mata Atlântica'' is an ecological corridor in the states of

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attracti ...

and

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

, Brazil. It promotes improvements to connectivity between fragments of Atlantic Forest in the region with the goal of maintaining genetic health among flora and fauna. The greater Atlantic Forest is also home to many native endangered or vulnerable species that are endemic to this part of the globe including but not limited too the:

Golden lion tamarin The golden lion tamarin (''Leontopithecus rosalia''; ), less commonly known as the golden lion marmoset, is a small New World monkey of the family Callitrichidae. Endemic to the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil, the golden lion tamarin is a ...

Three-toed sloth The three-toed or three-fingered sloths are arboreal neotropical mammals. They are the only members of the genus ''Bradypus'' (meaning "slow-footed") and the family Bradypodidae. The five living species of three-toed sloths are the brown-throa ...

, and the Bristle-spined rat. The Central Ecological Corridor is beneficial in connecting hundreds of at-risk populations experiencing reduced gene flow and genetic variation due to deforestation.

History

The corridor was created as part of the Ecological Corridors Project, for which the final evaluation was completed by the Ministry of the Environment in December 2000. A grant agreement between the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and the Ministry of the Environment was signed in December 2001. The project was effective as of March 2002. Priority was given to the implementation of the

Central Amazon Ecological Corridor The Central Amazon Ecological Corridor () is an ecological corridor in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, that connects a number of conservation units in the Amazon rainforest. The objective is to maintain genetic connectivity between the protected ...

and the Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor to test different conditions in the two biomes and use the lessons learned to prepare and support creation of other corridors. In the central corridor the state committees of the Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve act as project management committees, with representatives from traditional populations, environmental NGOs, producers and businesses and the three levels of government. The strategy is to ensure protection of significant forest remnants and gradually increase the amount of connection between core portions of the landscape through control, protection and recovery of forest cover and development of sustainable production activities that contribute to the connections.

Location

As of 2006 the corridor had over , covering the whole of

and the south of

. As of 2006 the corridor included 83 protected areas. Of these, state-level units accounted for 53% of the area, 16 federal units covered and private reserves covered . As of 2015 the Central Atlantic Forest Corridor encompassed an area of about , and extended about from north to south. This included areas of sea up to the edge of the continental shelf. About 95% of the corridor was privately owned land, in 163 municipalities. There were 128 conservation units covering about . In Bahia there were 10 federal, 15 state, 7 municipal and 28 private natural heritage reserves. In Espírito Santo there were 21 federal, 17 state, 17 municipal and 41 private reserves. There are two centers of endemism. The region has various types of rainforest including semi-deciduous forest,

restinga Restingas () are a distinct type of coastal tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest in eastern Brazil. They form on sandy, acidic, and nutrient-poor soils, and are characterized by medium-sized trees and shrubs adapted to the drier and n ...

s and mangroves along river estuaries. The forest has great diversity of woody plant species. Up to 458 tree species have been found in of forest in southern Bahia.

Conservation units

The lists of

protected areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

below exclude the many private reserves included in the corridor.

Fully protected units

Fully protected units in the corridor include:

Sustainable use units

Sustainable use units in the corridor include:

Environmental protection areas

Environmental protection areas in the corridor include:

Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{refend Ecological corridors of Brazil Protected areas of Bahia Protected areas of Espírito Santo 2002 establishments in Brazil Protected areas of the Atlantic Forest