Tumucumaque Mountains National Park

Tumucumaque National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Map showing the location of Tumucumaque National Park
Location Amapá, Pará, Brazil
Coordinates 1°50′N 54°0′W / 1.833°N 54.000°W / 1.833; -54.000Coordinates: 1°50′N 54°0′W / 1.833°N 54.000°W / 1.833; -54.000
Area 38,874 km2 (15,009 sq mi)
Established August 23, 2002

The Tumucumaque National Park (Portuguese: Parque Nacional Montanhas do Tumucumaque; Portuguese pronunciation: [tumukuˈmaki]) is situated in northwestern Brazil inside the Amazon Rainforest state of Amapá. It is bordered to the north by French Guiana and Suriname.

History

Tumucumaque was declared a national park on August 23, 2002, by the Government of Brazil, after collaboration with the WWF.[1] It is part of the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor, created in 2003.[2] The conservation unit is supported by the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program.[3]

Location

Tumucumaque National Park has an area of more than 38,800 square kilometres (14,980 sq mi), making it the world's largest tropical forest national park and larger than Belgium.[4] This area even reaches 59,000 square kilometres (22,780 sq mi) when including the bordering Guiana Amazonian Park, a national park in French Guiana. This combination of protected areas is still smaller than the three national parks system in the Brazil-Venezuelan border, where the Parima-Tapirapeco, Serrania de la Neblina and Serra da Neblina national parks have a combined area of over 73,000 square kilometres (28,190 sq mi).

But the latter is certainly smaller if the Tumucumaque National Park (Brazil) and the adjacent Guiana Amazonian Park (France) is combined with large neighbouring protected areas in northern Pará, Brazil, such as Grão-Pará Ecological Station, Maicuru Biological Reserve, and many others. The importance is that this makes the Guiana Shield one of the best protected and largest ecological corridor of tropical rainforests in the world. It is an uninhabited region and is of high ecological value: most of its animal species, mainly fish and aquatic birds, are not found in any other place in the world. It is a habitat for jaguars, primates, aquatic turtles, and harpy eagles.[5]

The highest point of the Brazilian state of Amapá is located there, reaching 701 meters.[6]

Legacy

Mozilla Firefox code-named the beta of Firefox 4 Tumucumaque.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Brazil creates largest tropical park". NBC News / AP. Aug 22, 2003. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  2. ↑ Corredor de Biodiversidade do Amapá Biodiversity Corridor, p. 43.
  3. ↑ Full list: PAs supported by ARPA.
  4. ↑ "Brazil creates largest rainforest reserve". BBC News. 23 August 2002. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  5. ↑ "World’s largest tropical forest park created". New Scientist. 22 August 2002. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  6. ↑ Portal Brasil
  7. ↑ http://www.mozilla.org/parks/tumucumaque/

Sources

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