The South Amazon Ecotones Ecological Corridor () is a proposed ecological corridor connecting conservation units and indigenous territories that form an

ecotone An ecotone is a transitional area between two plant communities, where these meet and integrate. Examples include areas between grassland and forest, estuaries and lagoon, freshwater and sea water etc. An ecotone may be narrow or wide, and it ma ...

, or transition between the south of the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

and the north of the

cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

of Brazil.

Background

The first version of the ''Ecological Corridors of Tropical Forests of Brazil'' proposal was developed by a group of consultants at the request of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment and presented in the first half of 1997. Seven major corridors were proposed: 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 ...

Northern Amazon Ecological Corridor The Northern Amazon Ecological Corridor () is a proposed ecological corridor connecting conservation units and indigenous territories in the north of the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. Background The first version of the ''Ecological Corridors of ...

, South Amazon Ecological Corridor, South Amazon Ecotones Ecological Corridor,

Western Amazon Ecological Corridor The Western Amazon Ecological Corridor () is a proposed ecological corridor connecting conservation units and indigenous territories in the southwest of the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. Background The first version of the ''Ecological Corridors ...

Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor The Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor ( Portuguese: ''Corredor Central da Mata Atlântica'' is an ecological corridor in the states of Espírito Santo and Bahia, Brazil. It promotes improvements to connectivity between fragments of Atl ...

and Serra do Mar Ecological Corridor. These corresponded to about 25% of the rainforests of Brazil. Priority was given to the Central Amazon Corridor and the Central Atlantic Forest Corridor, which would test and develop the concepts for use with the subsequent corridors.

Proposed scope

The South Amazon Ecotones Ecological Corridor was one of five Amazon region corridors identified. It covers the

s in the interconnection between the south of the

and the

of Central Brazil. It is located in the most threatened Amazon region due to the advance of agriculture and ranching in the north of

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

and south of

Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...

. The corridor was identified as vulnerable but relatively stable, regionally relevant in biological importance and moderate to high priority on a regional scale. It included six priority areas in three main Amazon ecoregions. The most common forms of vegetation are open rainforest and seasonal semi-deciduous forest. It is threatened by unsustainable logging and continued expansion of monocultures. The corridor has great biodiversity, with an estimated 700 species of birds and 29 primate species. Many species are considered endangered. The conservation units and indigenous territories form four large blocks, which require some form of interconnection. Conservation units in the original proposal included the

Jaru Biological Reserve Jaru Biological Reserve () is a biological reserve in the state of Rondônia, Brazil. It is part of the Southern Amazon Conservation Corridor. Location The conservation unit was originally created in 1961 as the Jaru Forest Reserve, then replaced ...

Cristalino State Park The Cristalino State Park () is a state park in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Location The Cristalino State Park is in the municipalities of Alta Floresta and Novo Mundo in the extreme north of Mato Grosso, between the Teles Pires river and ...

Araguaia National Park The Araguaia National Park (''Parque Nacional do Araguaia'') is a national park located in Tocantins state in the north of Brazil, between 09º51’—11º11’S and 49º57’—50º27’W. Bananal Island, on which the park is located, is believ ...

Cantão State Park The Cantão State Park () is a state park in the state of Tocantins, Brazil. It protects the Cantão wetlands, an area of igapó flooded forest in the ecotone where the Amazon rainforest merges into the cerrado. Location The Cantão State Park i ...

(south part) and

Ilha do Bananal / Cantão Environmental Protection Area The Ilha do Bananal / Cantão Environmental Protection Area ( or Leandro Environmental Protection Area is an environmental protection area in the state of Tocantins, Brazil. Location The Ilha do Bananal / Cantão Environmental Protection Area ( ...

(southwest part). It would also include the

Iquê Ecological Station Iquê Ecological Station () is an ecological station in the Juína municipality of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Location The Ecological Station is in the Cerrado biome. It was created on 2 June 1981 and is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute ...

, Serra do Cachimbo State Park and Rio Roosevelt State Forest. The proposed corridor was later expanded to include the

Rio Ronuro Ecological Station Rio Ronuro Ecological Station () is an ecological station in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. It protects an area of contact between Amazon rainforest in the north and Cerrado semi-deciduous forest in the south. Since being created in 1998 it ha ...

Rio Roosevelt Ecological Station The Rio Roosevelt Ecological Station () is an ecological station in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Location The Rio Roosevelt Ecological Station (ESEC) has an area of . It is in the municipality of Colniza in the state of Mato Grosso. It is ...

Rio Madeirinha Ecological Station Rio Madeirinha Ecological Station () is an ecological station (ESEC) in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Location The Rio Madeirinha Ecological Station has an area of about in the municipality of Colniza, Mato Grosso. It is in the north west ...

and

Apiacás Ecological Reserve Apiacás Ecological Reserve is a State ecological reserve in the State of Mato Grosso, in Brazil. History Many expeditions passed through the Apiacás territory, notably the "paranistas" in the 18th and 19th centuries. The ecological reserve wa ...

. This brought its area up to , including parts of the states of Amazonas,

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). It is bordered by Acre (state), Acre in the west, Amazonas, Brazil, Amazonas in the north, Mato Grosso in the east, and Bo ...

, Pará, Mato Grosso 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 2014 ...

Notes

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT: Ecological corridors of Brazil Protected areas of Amazonas (Brazilian state) Protected areas of Mato Grosso Protected areas of Pará Protected areas of Tocantins