Atlantic Forests

Long isolated from the Amazon Basin by the drier Cerrado region to its west, the Atlantic Forest ecoregion fostered the evolution of many distinctive plant and animal communities. Some 92% of the forests amphibians are found nowhere else on Earth.

Many of these endemic organisms now persist in mere islands of forest, all that are left after centuries of clearing for agriculture and urban development. In fact, of the more than 1,000,000 sq km (386,000 sq miles) of original Atlantic Forest that once blanketed the coast of Brazil, just 7% now remains.

Local species

There are 4 species of the small primates lion tamarin which inhabit the trees, including golden-headed lion tamarin (L. chrysomelas), black-faced lion tamarin (L. caissara), black lion tamarin (L. chrysopygus), and the highly endangered golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia).

Other mammal species include the muriqui or woolly spider monkeys (Brachyteles arachnoides), and the maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus) - slow-moving animals with long black plumes on their neck and shoulders. Birds include red-necked tanager (Tangara cyanocephala), and many endemics such as the red-billed currasow (Crax blumenbachii), seven-colored tanager (Tanagara fastuosa), blue-bellied parrot (Triclaria malachitacea), and the three-toed jacamar (Jacamaralcyon tridactyla).

Threats

Two of the world's largest cities - Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, lie within the Atlantic Forests ecoregion, indicating the challenge of conserving the remaining habitat in the area. In a recent study, just 2.5 acres (one hectare) of the forest were found to have 450 different species of trees! Protecting this diversity, while meeting the needs of growing metropolitan and rural populations, is a serious challenge.

Logging, agricultural expansion, and associated road building threaten this globally important region of biological diversity. Habitat loss, hunting, and the wildlife trade threaten many species.

Given the high levels of local richness and endemism and the extensive loss of natural habitat, over 95% in many areas, the probability of species extinctions is high without intensive conservation efforts. Relatively extensive, but generally unprotected blocks of forest remain in the southern portion of the ecoregion, particularly in Argentina and Paraguay.

WWF's work

The goal of WWF’s Atlantic forests conservation project is to develop and implement an overall ecoregion conservation strategy for Brazil's Atlantic Forests. In the short-term, it will focus on 3 new initiatives. The first is a process of consultation with, and coordination of, government and non-government conservation organizations in the tri-national Missiones region.

The second is a mapping exercise that will document forest cover changes from 1985 to 1990, and then to 1995 in the entire ecoregion. This will start with the Brazilian area, moving on to integrate the tri-national effort. Finally, it will use the experience of decades of site-specific work throughout the ecoregion and use it as the basis of technical assistance to protected area projects throughout the region.

These initial efforts will establish a greater WWF presence in the ecoregion, and build WWF's credibility for a lead role in broader ecoregional planning efforts in the future.