A Brief History of Biodiversity Conservation in Brazil

Brazil is one of the world’s richest megadiversity countries, vying with Indonesia for the title of our planet’s biologically wealthiest nation. Privileged as it is, however, it rarely attracts attention for what it has; rather, it is criticized for what it is losing through deforestation; conversion of natural landscapes into plantations, soybean fields, and pastures; and industrial and urban sprawl. Although the threats to the country’s wildlife and natural landscapes are dramatic, Brazil has also become a world leader in biodiversity conservation, primarily because of its ever-growing cadre of conservation professionals. Destruction of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest and its wildlife began in the early 1500s (Dean 1995; Coimbra-Filho &

[1]  C. van den Berg,et al.  Biodiversity and Conservation of Plants in Brazil , 2005 .

[2]  A. B. M. Machado,et al.  Lista da fauna brasileira ameaçada de extinção: incluindo a Lista das espécies quase ameaçadas e deficientes em dados , 2005 .

[3]  Brasil. Ministério do Meio Ambiente. Secretaria de Biodive Florestas.  Biodiversidade brasileira: Avaliação e identificação de áreas e ações prioritárias para conservação, utilização sustentável e repartição dos benefícios da biodiversidade nos biomas brasileiros , 2002 .

[4]  W. Junk.  Appraisal of the scientific work of Harald Sioli. , 2001 .

[5]  T. Lovejoy,et al.  Lessons from Amazonia: The Ecology and Conservation of a Fragmented Forest , 2001 .

[6]  S. Oldfield,et al.  The world list of threatened trees , 1998 .

[7]  Warren Dean.  With Broadax and Firebrand: The Destruction of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest , 1996 .

[8]  K. Strier.  Faces in the Forest: The Endangered Muriqui Monkeys of Brazil , 1992 .

[9]  T. Whitmore,et al.  Biogeography and quaternary history in tropical America , 1991 .

[10]  R. Mittermeier,et al.  Conservation of primates in the Atlantic forest region of eastern Brazil , 1982 .

[11]  T. Lovejoy,et al.  Conservation progress in Amazonia: a structural review. , 1981 .

[12]  P. Nogueira-Neto,et al.  A Programme of Ecological Stations for Brazil , 1979, Environmental Conservation.

[13]  R. Mittermeier,et al.  5 – Primate Conservation in Brazilian Amazonia , 1977 .

[14]  J. M. Pires.  Tipos de vegetacao da Amazonia , 1974 .

[15]  R. Goodland,et al.  An ecological discussion of the environmental impact of the highway construction program in the Amazon basin , 1974 .

[16]  Ghillean T. Prance,et al.  Phytogeographic support tor the theory of Pleistocene forest refuges in the Amazon Basin, based on evidence from distribution patterns in Caryocaraceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Dichapetalaceae and Lecythidaceae , 1973 .