The Amazon Region Protected Areas program is the single largest tropical forest conservation program in history
- Issue: Summer 2014
Large-scale conservation is especially important in the Amazon because we need to maintain large tracts of forests not only for carbon sequestration, fresh water delivery and energy generation, but also for wide-ranging species which require massive areas of forest to survive. ARPA offers a hard line against deforestation—a necessary shield, as approximately 70% of the Amazon's forest cover must be protected to sustain the tropical ecosystem as a whole.
Since 2000, ARPA has helped a scattered group of protected areas grow into a strategic gallery of Amazon jewels covering more than 200,000 square miles.
million acres:
Protected by ARPA to date
Greater than the size of California
million acres:
Ultimate goal of permanent protection
3X the size of all US National Parks combined.
PeoplePopulation of Brazil's Amazon: 20 million Protected areas contribute to water quality, plant and animal diversity and sustainable economic options. |
ClimateTons of CO2 emissions avoided from deforestation: 1.4 billion That’s nearly the equivalent of the annual C02 emissions of the entire nation of Russia. |
WildlifeKnown species on Earth found in the Amazon: 1 in 10 |
TreesDecrease in Brazil’s deforestation rate from 2000 to 2012: 75% ARPA is slowing deforestation’s spread. In 2013, despite a small uptick in deforestation nationally, forest loss in states with major ARPA presence dropped again. |
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