The Médio Juruá Extractive Reserve ( pt, Reserva Extrativista Médio Juruá) is an

extractive reserve An extractive reserve ( pt, Reserva Extrativista or RESEX) is a type of sustainable use protected area in Brazil. The land is publicly owned, but the people who live there have the right to traditional extractive practices, such as hunting, fishi ...

in the state of Amazonas Brazil.

Location

The Médio Juruá Extractive Reserve is in the municipality of Carauari in the state of Amazonas. It has an area of . The terrain is flat. The reserve is on the left bank of the Juruá River, which meanders in a generally northeast direction. It contains

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

s from former meanders. The population practices agriculture on the convex margins of the river, with their homes slightly higher up.

Environment

The Médio Juruá Extractive Reserve is in the

Amazon biome The Amazon biome ( pt, Bioma Amazônia) contains the Amazon rainforest, an area of tropical rainforest, and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas to the north and east. The biome contains blackwater and white ...

. Average temperatures range from . Vegetation is relatively intact due to the distance from urban centres, with very high biodiversity. Human activity has little impact, with degraded areas recovering quickly. Endemic species of flora include rubber trees (

Hevea ''Hevea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, with about ten members. It is also one of many names used commercially for the wood of the most economically important rubber tree, '' H. brasiliensis''. The genus is n ...

species), Ocotea species), Virola surinamensis,

Calycophyllum spruceanum ''Calycophyllum spruceanum'', common names capirona and Pau-Mulato, is a canopy tree belonging to the Gardenia Family ( Rubiaceae) indigenous to the Amazon rainforest. Its most interesting characteristic is its very shiny, highly polished ''gre ...

and Bombax globosum. Fauna include white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), red brocket (Mazama americana), South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), red-handed howler (Alouatta belzebul), Parrot species,

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 whit ...

(Trichechus inunguis),

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

(Panthera onca),

black caiman The black caiman (''Melanosuchus niger'') is a species of large crocodilian and is the largest species of the family Alligatoridae. It is a carnivorous reptile that lives along slow-moving rivers, lakes, seasonally flooded savannas of the Amazon ...

(Melanosuchus niger), Alagoas curassow (Mitu mitu), Piping guan (Pipile), Crypturellus species and fish such as Arapaima gigas,

tambaqui The tambaqui (''Colossoma macropomum'') is a large species of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae. It is native to tropical South America, but kept in aquaculture and introduced elsewhere. It is also known by the names black pacu, blac ...

(Colossoma macropomum) and silver arowana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum).

History

The Médio Juruá Extractive Reserve was created by presidential decree on 4 March 1997. It is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). It is classified as IUCN protected area category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources). The extractive reserve is an area used by the traditional population who practice extraction, subsistence agriculture and small scale livestock husbandry. Its basic objectives are to protect the livelihoods and culture of these people and to ensure sustainable use of the natural resources. The land is all publicly owned. The utilisation plan was approved on 24 November 1997. On 23 November 1999, the Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform) recognized the extractive reserve as an Agro-extractive settlement project for 280 families. It became part of the

Central Amazon Ecological Corridor The Central Amazon Ecological Corridor ( pt, Corredor Ecológico Central da Amazônia) 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 ...

, established in 2002. On 29 January 2007, IBAMA created a deliberative council. The deliberative council, which manages the reserve, is chaired by ICMBio and has representatives of public and civil society organisations and the traditional population. The conservation unit is supported by the

Amazon Region Protected Areas Program The Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA; pt, Programa Áreas Protegidas da Amazônia) is a joint initiative sponsored by government and non-government agencies to expand protection of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Foundation The Amaz ...

. A decree on 13 October 2014 added over to the Médio Juruá Extractive Reserve. The decree also established the Serra do Gandarela National Park in Minas Gerais with , the Guaricana National Park in Paraná with and the Nascentes Geraizeiras Sustainable Development Reserve in Minas Gerais with .

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Medio Jurua Extractive Reserve 1997 establishments in Brazil Extractive reserves of Brazil Protected areas of Amazonas (Brazilian state)