Hilly terrain in French Guiana – credit Lesly Derksen, unsplash
As part of new wildlands protection law, the French Government has announced the creation of a new nature reserve in French Guiana spanning 370,000 acres.
Called the Rocky Peaks of Armontabo, the reserve includes giant, isolated granite mountains surrounded by intact rainforest of rich biodiverse value.
The same law also protected 7 other landscapes in France proper, but by comparison add up to little more than 2,400 acres.
French Guiana contains over one-thousand species of tree, and has one of the highest forest-integrity index scores of any territory on Earth, with 41% of its land area comprised just of the Amazon Rainforest alone. Other forest biomes are also present.
It’s already host to one of the world’s largest national parks, Guiana Amazon National Park—also technically the largest in “Europe.”
The Armontabo Peaks are a feature of a geo-eco region called the Guiana Shield which stretches across the Guianas, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia, and which is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.
Their reserve takes the amount of French territory under “strong protections” closer to the country’s goal of 10% by 2030, and almost achieves the goal for 180,000 hectares of additional protections in Guiana by the same date.
“In concrete terms, this translates into less pressure on natural environments and stronger protection for species and habitats,” says Monique Barbut, France’s minister for ecological transition, biodiversity and international climate and nature negotiations.
The northeast corner of South America is rapidly becoming one of the most protected areas on Earth. Along with Armontabo and Guiana Amazon in French Guiana, neighboring Suriname announced protections for 25 million acres last year.
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The country is 90% forested, so virtually every last one of those acres will protect trees and the Amazon-style rainforest they form.
Re:wild, a conservation organization working actively in the Amazon and other South American landscapes, reports that more than 700 birds, 100 species of amphibians, and many charismatic mammals such as lowland tapirs, jaguars, giant river otters, and 8 different primates range throughout the country.
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“I’ve worked in Suriname for 50 years and I am absolutely delighted that President Geerlings-Simons has made this historic and unprecedented commitment to maintain Suriname’s forest cover at this level within her first two months in office,” said Russell Mittermeier, chief conservation officer at Re:wild.
“This sets a new standard for the Amazonian region as a whole, which has suffered from serious deforestation in recent decades.”
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