GEO Brasil - UNEP

The Atlantic For
orest
est
The Atlantic Forest originally covered more than a million
square kilometres distributed along the Brazilian
coast with some penetrations into the interior. Well diversified
in terms of phyto-physiognomic and floristic, the
Atlantic forest included the totality of the Dense Tropical
Rain Forest from Rio Grande do Sul to Rio Grande do Norte
and the Deciduous and Semi-deciduous Seasonal Forests
with varying sizes of incursions into the interior, including
part of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso do Sul (Camera
1991).
The great geographic extension and climate diversity, soils
and relief provide the existence of an incomparable biological
diversity. Data presented by Myers et al. (2000)
demonstrate the great wealth of the Atlantic forest, where
there are 20.000 species of plants (27% of the total of species
of the world), being 8.000 of them endemic. This
biome is the world record holder of diversity of woody
plants, with 458 species found in a single hectare in the
south of Bahia. Diversity and endemic number among
vertebrates are also impressive: 251 species of mammals
with 160 endemic; 620 species of birds with 73 endemic;
200 reptiles with 60 endemic and 280 amphibians, of which
253 are endemic (Mittermeier et al. 1999). According to
these numbers, 2.1% of the world’s total species from
those four groups of vertebrates only exist in the Brazilian
Atlantic Forest. And two thirds of the world’s primate
species are endemic from the Atlantic forest.
In the area included by this biome, one may find 70% of
the Brazilian population and the largest cities and the
most important industrial poles in Brazil. The diversified
economy and the concentrated industrial areas surrounding
the great cities and development axes, generate pressures
on the biodiversity, as they request natural resources
and supply energy for their activities. With a population
growth rate of 1.26% a year (taking the period from 1991
to 1996) (MMA 2000e), this pressure won’t be easily reduced.
Cattle raising development, along with mining and real
estate exploration, added to the lack of specific occupation
policies and use of the soil, almost resulted in complete
destruction of that biome along all its extension.
Recent data from “The SOS Atlantic Forest Foundation”
(1998) has estimated that only 8% of the original area of
the Atlantic Forest still persists in isolated patches. In
some areas of the Brazilian Northeast, less than 1% of
the original vegetation covering remain.
The devastation level may be noticed through the high
rate of endangered species. In the group of birds, 10% of
the species found in the biome belong to some endangered
category. As for the mammals, the number of threatened
species reaches 15% (Conservation International do
Brazil et al. 2000). It is not a coincidence that all species
of the Brazilian fauna considered extinct (two birds, four
butterflies, a dragonfly and a type of Peripatus) come from
the Atlantic Forest (Mittermeier et al. 1999).
Although strongly altered, the Atlantic Forest is still one
of the richest environments regarding biodiversity in the
world. Compared to the other hotspots, it occupies the
fourth position in the rank of the wealthiest and most
threatened areas, according to the endemic degree of
plants and vertebrates, and percentage of remaining primary
vegetation in relation to the original area (Mittermeier
et al. 1999). Its importance regarding world biodiversity
and the threat that it represents to the remaining
vegetation justifies the adoption of urgent measures for
its protection.
annex 3
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