The Guapi-Guapiaçú Environmental Protection Area ( pt, Área de Proteção Ambiental Guapi-Guapiaçú) is a municipally-operated environmental protection area in the state of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

, Brazil.

Location

The Guapi-Guapiaçú Environmental Protection Area (APA) is contained in the municipality of

Guapimirim Guapimirim (, from Tupi 'little spring', ''guapi'' 'spring', ''mirim'' 'little'), is a Brazilian Municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro around 50km(31 miles) from its state capital, the city of Rio de Janeiro. Its in a region known as Bai ...

, Rio de Janeiro. It has an area of . It is bounded to the north by the Petrópolis Environmental Protection Area and the Três Picos State Park, to the east by the Paraíso Ecological Station, the

Guapiaçú River The Guapiaçú River ( pt, Rio Guapiaçú, sometimes Guapi-Áçu River) is a river of Rio de Janeiro state in southeastern Brazil. It is a tributary of the Macacu River. The Guapiaçú River forms part of the eastern boundary of the Guapi-Guapia� ...

and the municipality of Itaboraí and to the south by the Guapimirim Environmental Protection Area. To the west it is bounded by the town of Guapimirim and associated communities. The APA has low population density. , or 14.77%, is designated for permanent protection. Of this, , or 71.36% of the permanently protected area, is not covered by natural vegetation. Most of the natural vegetation is

várzea forest A várzea forest is a seasonal floodplain forest inundated by whitewater rivers that occurs in the Amazon biome. Until the late 1970s, the definition was less clear and várzea was often used for all periodically flooded Amazonian forests. Althoug ...

, but the APA contains significant remnants of submontane and montane

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and t ...

. It connects the mangroves to the alpine meadows and high montane forests, forms a corridor between the five conservation units that are partly located in the municipality of

, and helps to control occupation and land use of the area. Potential threats are uncontrolled urban and industrial expansion due to low agricultural use, deforestation, trafficking in wildlife and hunting. On the positive side, the low agricultural use may provide the opportunity for reforestation.

History

The Guapi-Guapiaçú Environmental Protection Area was created by municipal decree 620 of 22 December 2004. It is administered by the municipal department of the environment. The APA was created to form an ecological corridor integrated with the Guapimirim Environmental Protection Area, Petrópolis Environmental Protection Area, Serra dos Órgãos National Park, Três Picos State Park and Paraíso Ecological Station, home of the Rio de Janeiro Primatology Center. It aims to encourage sustainability in the communities in the APA through promoting development of ecotourism, agrotourism, agroecology, aquaculture, scientific research and environmental education. It is in the

Central Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest Mosaic The Central Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest Mosaic ( pt, Mosaico da Mata Atlântica Central Fluminense is a protected area mosaic in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The mosaic is inland, to the east of the city of Rio de Janeiro. History A pr ...

, created in 2006.

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guapi-Guapiacu Environmental Protection Area Environmental protection areas of Brazil Protected areas of Rio de Janeiro (state) 2004 establishments in Brazil Protected areas established in 2004