The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

12. Protecting landscapes and seascapes:
experience from coastal regions of Brazil
Clayton F. Lino and Marilia Britto de Moraes
Introduction
In this chapter, we review Brazil’s experience with protecting the landscapes and seascapes of
its coastal zone, looking at two very different designations: one that is part of an international
system and one that is unique to Brazil. We discuss the special conservation challenges of the
coastal zone in Brazil, and introduce the national system of protected areas. We present two
case-studies: the Mata Atlantica Biosphere Reserve, designated under UNESCO’s Man and the
Biosphere Reserve Programme, and the Cananéia-Iguape-Peruíbe Area de Proteção Ambiental
(APA), a federally designated Environmental Protection Area.
These two protected area designations play an important role in protecting the landscapes
and seascapes of Brazil’s coastal zone. More than just compatible, these designations represent
complementary approaches to protection that may work in harmony with each other and with
other kinds of protected areas – such as Category II National/State Parks and Category VI
extractive reserves – to manage natural resources in the coastal zone, while involving local
communities and managing urban growth in densely populated areas.
The Biosphere Reserve designation and the Environmental Protection Area – Area de
Proteção Ambiental or APA – are introduced briefly below.
Biosphere Reserves in Brazil
Brazil today devotes nearly 15% of its national territory to Biosphere Reserves under the
UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme, with at least one of these reserves in each of the
large Brazilian biomes (Mata Atlantica, Cerrado, Pantanal, Amazon and Caatinga). UNESCO
created the Man and the Biosphere (MaB) programme in 1971; one of the principal instruments
involved the creation of “biosphere reserves,” dedicated to sustainable development and the
conservation of biodiversity, as well as the support of environmental education, research, and
the monitoring of the most important natural areas of the world. While Brazil is home to only
six of the 440 Biosphere Reserves created under this programme, the combined area of these
reserves is equivalent to approximately 1,300,000km 2 – more than half of the total area of all
the biosphere reserves in the world. The first of Brazil’s biosphere reserves to be declared was
the Mata Atlantica Biosphere Reserve, which is discussed later in this paper.
The Area de Proteção Ambiental (APA): Brazil’s Category V
designation
Brazil’s Environmental Protection Areas – Areas de Proteção Ambiental or APAs – correspond
with Category V Protected Landscapes and Seascapes. This designation was created in
the 1980s as part of the legislation for Brazil’s Environmental Policy (Federal Law 6.902/81),
and includes a strong emphasis on regional planning and management. The APAs are areas
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