Parks under attack Brazil’s Iguaçu National Park illustrates a global threat to biodiversity

National parks are under attack in many parts of the world, including Brazil, which the Convention on Biodiversity ranks as the world’s most biodiverse country. Brazil has been experiencing an unprecedented environmental crisis, and the political situation in the country favors approval of environme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Ambio Vol. 49; no. 12; pp. 2061 - 2067
Main Authors:	Prasniewski, Victor Mateus, Szinwelski, Neucir, Sobral-Souza, Thadeu, Kuczach, Angela Marcia, Brocardo, Carlos Rodrigo, Sperber, Carlos Frankl, Fearnside, Philip Martin
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Dordrecht Springer Science + Business Media 01-12-2020 Springer Netherlands Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Agricultural economics Agriculture Agroforestry Atmospheric Sciences Biodiversity Brazil Conservation of Natural Resources Convention on Biological Diversity Damage Earth and Environmental Science Ecology Ecosystem Ecosystem services Environment Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology Environmental impact Environmental Management Human populations Humans Local population Municipalities National parks Operating costs Organic farming Parks & recreation areas Parks, Recreational PERSPECTIVE Physical Geography Protected areas Roads Soybeans Tourism Brazil Policy Atlantic forest Biodiversity threats Law Environmental throwbacks
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Summary:	National parks are under attack in many parts of the world, including Brazil, which the Convention on Biodiversity ranks as the world’s most biodiverse country. Brazil has been experiencing an unprecedented environmental crisis, and the political situation in the country favors approval of environmentally damaging measures by both the legislative and executive branches of government. A new and largely unreported setback is a proposal in the National Congress for a road cutting the Iguaçu National Park in two. Here, we identify environmental threats from the proposed road and pressures on the park from the surrounding human population. The proposed laws violate Brazil’s constitution and would cause immeasurable damage to the park’s biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The road would reduce the cost of transport between two municipalities (counties), but not the cost of transporting soybeans, their main agricultural product. However, the local population would be better served by strengthening its ties to the park and promoting economic alternatives such as tourism, agroforestry, and organic agriculture. The Caminho do Colono road illustrates the danger posed by downgrading the status of protected areas in order to allow environmentally damaging activities. This trend is occurring in many countries and is especially evident in Brazil.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0044-7447 1654-7209
DOI:	10.1007/s13280-020-01353-5