The Tapajós Environmental Protection Area () is an

environmental protection area Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...

in the state 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 ...

, Brazil.

Location

The Tapajós Environmental Protection Area (APA) is divided between the municipalities of Trairão (0.27%), Jacareacanga (14.12%) and

Itaituba Itaituba is a city and municipality located in the state of Pará, Brazil, and one of the most important socioeconomic centers in the western region of the State. Location Itaituba is the fifteenth largest city (by population) in the State of ...

(85.61%) in the state of Pará. It has an area of . The Tapajós APA is in the western portion of the BR-163 Sustainable Forest District. The Transgarimpeira Road runs through the APA from east to west, and provides the easiest access. The terrain is hilly, with deep valleys formed by erosion and

inselberg An inselberg or monadnock ( ) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an ...

s. Altitudes range from . The APA is in the Jamanxim sub-basin of the

Tapajós The Tapajós ( ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amazon River. When combined with the Juruena River, the Tapajós is approximately long. Prior to a drastic increase in illegal gold mi ...

basin. The main rivers in the APA are the Tapajós, Jamanxim, Crepori and Novo.

History

The Tapajós Environmental Protection Area (APA) was created by federal decree on 13 February 2006 with the basic objectives of protecting biological diversity, controlling occupation and ensuring sustainable use of natural resources. The APA was created to relieve unemployment and social tension caused by tighter controls on

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

in the municipality of

Novo Progresso Novo Progresso is a municipality in the state of Pará in the Northern region of Brazil. The city is served by Novo Progresso Airport Geography The municipality contains part of the Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve, a strict ...

and the district of Moraes de Almeida. This could be partly solved by opening timber concessions in the APA. Ordinance 108 of 23 December 2011 created the consultative council to help create and implement the management plan. The APA is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation ( Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

(ICMBio). It is classed

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

V (protected landscape/seascape). Provisional measure 558 of 5 January 2012 changed the boundaries of the

Mapinguari Mapinguari or mapinguary are mythical monstrous jungle-dwelling spirits from Brazilian folklore. They are said to protect the Amazon rainforest and its animals. According to folklore, when humans grow too old they can transform into man-eating M ...

Amazônia The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses , of which are covered by the rainfo ...

and Campos Amazônicos national parks, Itaituba I, Itaituba II and Crepori national forests and the Tapajós APA. All were reduced in size apart from the Campos Amazônicos park. An area of about was removed from the Tapajós APA due to the planned

Jatobá Hydroelectric Power Plant The Jatobá Hydroelectric Power Plant () is a planned hydroelectric power plant and dam on the Tapajós river in the state of Pará, Brazil. As of 2017 the project was suspended. Location The Jatobá Hydroelectric Power Plant will be built on th ...

on the

river. The measure affected about 0.96% of the APA, which was reduced from . Law 12678 of 25 June 2012 confirmed provisional measure 558. Provisional measure 758 of 19 December 2016 altered the limits of the Tapajós APA and the Jamanxim National Park. It remove two polygons of and , and elsewhere expanded the park by . The areas removed were to be used for the beds and verges of the EF-170 railway and BR-163 highway. Land that was not actually used would be reintegrated into the national park. The area of the APA dropped from , while the area of the national park grew from .

Environment

Average annual rainfall is . Temperatures range from with an average of . Soils are mainly red yellow

acrisol An Acrisol is a Reference Soil Group of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). It has a clay-rich subsoil. It is associated with humid, tropical climates, such as those found in Brazil, and often supports forested areas. In the USDA s ...

s. Vegetation includes dense rainforest (74%), open rainforest (24%) and

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 ...

-forest contact (2%). Almost 93% of the area is covered by rainforest, with 213 species of trees, 2 of lianas and 8 of palm trees. Andiroba (

Carapa guianensis ''Carapa guianensis'' is a species of tree in the family Meliaceae, also known by the common names andiroba or crabwood. Description Andiroba is native to the Amazon and is widely used by the indigenous populations of the northern region of ...

) and

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) are the most common. A number of common species have economic value including Muiratinga, Breu-manga, Breu-vermelho, Louro-jandauba and Abiurana-vermelha in the dense rainforest and Breu manga, Muiratinga, Abiurana vermelha, Macucu and Embauba in the open rainforest. In the open rainforest with creepers valuable trees include Louro-jandauba, Caripe-banco, Breu-vermelho, Acariquara and Muiratinga.

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tapajos Environmental Protection Area Environmental protection areas of Brazil Protected areas established in 2006 2006 establishments in Brazil Protected areas of Pará