The Marajó Archipelago Environmental Protection Area ( pt, Área de Proteção Ambiental Arquipélago do Marajó) is an environmental protection area in the state of

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana a ...

, Brazil. It protects the

Marajó Archipelago Marajó Archipelago ('' pt, arquipélago do Marajó'' is the largest fluvial-maritime archipelago on Earth. Located in the states of Amapá and Pará, in Brazil, it is formed by about 2,500 islands. The main island of the archipelago also has the ...

, made up of marine fluvial islands in the area where the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

and

Tocantins Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 2 ...

rivers converge and flow into the Atlantic. Covering almost it is larger than some countries in Europe. The area is inhabited, but human activities are limited to some extent to reduce ecological damage.

Location

The Marajó Archipelago Environmental Protection Area (APA) is divided between the Pará municipalities of

Afuá Afuá is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Pará. Its population as of 2020 is estimated to be 39,567 people. The area of the municipality is 8,372.772 km2. The city belongs to the mesoregion Marajó and to the microregion of ' ...

(14.2%),

Anajás Anajás is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Pará. Its population as of 2020 is estimated to be 29,688 people. The area of the municipality is 6,921.709 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion Marajó and to the microregion ...

(11.78%), Breves (16.15%),

Cachoeira do Arari Cachoeira do Arari is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Pará. Its population as of 2020 is estimated to be 24,064 people. The area of the municipality is 3,102.080 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion Marajó and to the mi ...

(5.21%), Chaves (22.44%), Curralinho (6.09%),

Muaná Muaná is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Pará. Its population as of 2020 is estimated to be 40,906 people. The area of the municipality is 3,765.524 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion Marajó and to the microregion of ...

(6.37%), Ponta de Ped sexo 100 anos (escrevido por Carlos) a (5.7%), Salvaterra (1.75%),

Santa Cruz do Arari Santa Cruz do Arari is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Pará. Its population as of 2020 is estimated to be 10,314 people. The area of the municipality is 1,074.854 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion Marajó and the mi ...

(1.69%), Soure (5.94%) and

São Sebastião da Boa Vista São Sebastião da Boa Vista is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Pará. Its population as of 2020 is estimated to be 26,974 people. The area of the municipality is 1.632,218 km². The city belongs to the mesoregion Marajó and ...

(2.67%). It has an area of . This makes it larger than some European countries. The APA includes the island of

Marajó Marajó () is a large coastal island in the state of Pará, Brazil. It is the main and largest of the islands in the Marajó Archipelago. Marajó Island is separated from the mainland by Marajó Bay, Pará River, smaller rivers (especially M ...

and about 3,000 other islands and islets to the northwest of

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in ...

in the delta region where the

and

rivers empty into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. The archipelago has a population of about of 250,000. The APA contains the

Charapucu State Park The Charapucu State Park ( pt, Parque Estadual Charapucu) is a state park in the state of Pará, Brazil. It protects an area of the island of Marajó at the mouth of the Amazon River, much of which is flooded by the river or the tides. The vegetati ...

in Afuá and the Mapuá, Terra Grande-Pracuúba and Soure extractive reserves.

Environment

The Marajó Archipelago Environmental Protection Area covers a fluvial marine complex. It has a hot and humid climate with average temperatures of about . It contains lakes, rivers, creeks, grasslands, forests, farms and beaches. There are seasonal fluctuations with salt water flooding at times and the sweet and muddy waters of the rivers flooding at other times. Vegetation includes alluvial and lowland dense rainforest, savannah, field, and pioneer formations in floodplains, salt marshes, mangroves and sandbanks. The floodplains and low fields are flooded for 3–4 months in the rainy season. Typical Amazon plant species include ''

Caryocar glabrum ''Caryocar glabrum'' is a species of tree in the family Caryocaraceae. It is native to South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion ...

'', Cuban cedar ('' Cedrela odorata''), ''

Couratari multiflora ''Couratari'' is a genus of trees in the family Lecythidaceae, first described as a genus in 1775. They are native to tropical South America and Central America. They are large trees, often rising above the rainforest canopy. The leaves are ev ...

'', ''

Hymenaea courbaril ''Hymenaea courbaril'', the courbaril or West Indian locust, is a tree common in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. It is a hardwood that is used for furniture, flooring, and decoration. Its hard fruit pods have edible dry pulp ...

'', ''

Manilkara huberi ''Manilkara huberi'', also known as masaranduba, níspero, and sapotilla, is a fruit bearing plant of the genus ''Manilkara ''Manilkara'' is a genus of trees in the family Sapotaceae. They are widespread in tropical and semitropical locatio ...

'',

Brazil nut The Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa'') is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest ...

(''Bertholletia excelsa''), baboonwood (''

Virola surinamensis ''Virola surinamensis'', known commonly as baboonwood, ucuuba, ucuhuba and ''chalviande'',Americas Regional Workshop (Conservation & Sustainable Management of Trees, Costa Rica, November 1996). 1998''Virola surinamensis''.The IUCN Red List of Thr ...

''),

açaí palm The açaí palm (, , from Nheengatu ''asai''), ''Euterpe oleracea,'' is a species of palm tree ( Arecaceae) cultivated for its fruit (açaí berries, or simply açaí), hearts of palm (a vegetable), leaves, and trunk wood. Global demand for th ...

(''Euterpe oleracea'') and buriti palm (''

Mauritia flexuosa ''Mauritia flexuosa'', known as the moriche palm, ''ité'' palm, ''ita'', ''buriti'', ''muriti'', ''miriti'' (Brazil), ''canangucho'' (Colombia), ''acho'' (Ecuador), or ''aguaje'' (Peru), is a palm tree. It grows in and near swamps and other wet ...

''). There is great diversity of terrestrial and aquatic animals including two endangered species of manatee, the

West Indian manatee The West Indian manatee (''Trichechus manatus''), also known as the North American manatee, is a large, aquatic mammal native to warm coastal areas of the Caribbean, from the eastern US to northern Brazil. Living alone or in herds, it feeds on un ...

(''Trichechus manatus'') and the

Amazonian manatee The Amazonian manatee (''Trichechus inunguis'') is a species of manatee that lives in the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. It has thin, wrinkled brownish or gray colored skin, with fine hairs scattered over its body and a whi ...

(''Trichechus inunguis''). The islands have large numbers of buffalo. Buffalo were introduced when a ship carrying them from India to French Guiana was shipwrecked off Marajó island, and they found the environment of flooded fields and abundant vegetation ideal.

History

The Marajó Archipelago Environmental Protection Area was created on 5 October 1989 under article 13 of the Pará state constitution. Objectives are to develop and implement ecological and economic zoning aimed at conserving biodiversity and improving the quality of life of the population. Other goals are to preserve endangered species and representative samples of ecosystems, and support scientific research, environmental education and ecotourism. A presidential decree of 12 February 2007 created an inter-ministerial executive group to monitor the competing actions of federal agencies in the archipelago, and to create a sustainable development plan in collaboration with civil society and the state and municipal governments. This plan was published in September 2007. It covered land use planning, land tenure and environmental management; promotion of sustainable production activities; infrastructure for development; social inclusion and citizenship; and institutional relations and management model. As of 2014 there was still no management plan for the APA, although by law there should be a management plan for the conservation unit, its buffer zone and ecological corridors, including measures to promote their integration into the socio-economic life of the surrounding communities. File:Ilha de Marajó.jpg, Marajo island File:Soure Beach, Isla Marajo (Para, Brasil).jpg, Soure beach File:Guaras.jpg, Scarlet Ibises File:Arquipélago do Marajó.jpg, River traffic

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marajo Archipelago Environmental Protection Area 1989 establishments in Brazil Environmental protection areas of Brazil Protected areas established in 1989 Protected areas of Pará