Protected Areas

Forest Biodiversity(including Mountain Biodiversity)Brazilian forests detain the largestbiological biodiversity in the entireplanet. They take on significant socialenvironmentalimportance and ensure themaintenance of 700 thousand direct jobsand 2 million indirect jobs.Brazil is sub-divided into six biomes, thelargest of which is the Amazon, whosepreserved area totals 85%, followed bythe Pantanal (88%), the Caatinga (62%),the Cerrado (60%) the Pampa (41%) andthe Atlantic Forest (25%) (MMA, 2007).In light of its biomes and their associatedecosystems, Brazil is considered to bethe first country in terms of biodiversityand presents great potential for using thiswealth.The Brazilian Federal Government’schallenge is to conciliate conservationof the rich flora and fauna with theproduction and sustainable use of forestresources. The forestry sector within thefederal public administration is comprisedby four bodies:• The Ministry for the Environment, bymeans for the Department of Forests(Departamento de Florestas – DFLOR)is responsible for proposing policies andnorms and for defining strategies;• The Brazilian Forestry Service, whichis responsible for the management ofpublic forests;• The Brazilian Institute for theEnvironment and Renewable NaturalResources (Instituto Brasileiro do MeioAmbiente e dos Recursos NaturaisRenováveis - IBAMA), which is thefederal agency responsible for executingthe policies. Its Office for the SustainableUse of Biodiversity and Forests isresponsible for coordinating, controlling,supervising, normatizing, monitoring,guiding and assessing the executionof federal measures pertaining to thelicenses and authorizations for access,management, commercialization and useof forest and flora resources;• The Chico Mendes Institute forBiodiversity Conservation (InstitutoChico Mendes de Conservação daBiodiversidade – ICMbio), which isresponsible for monitoring the public15