IGUAÇU NATIONAL PARK, BRAZIL

COUNTRY Brazil 

NAME Iguaçu National Park

IUCN MANAGEMENT CATEGORY

II National Park
Natural World Heritage Site, inscribed 1986. Natural Criteria ii, iv
Listed as World Heritage in Danger in 1999-2001 due to the construction of a discontinued road splitting the Park.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL PROVINCE Brazilian Rain Forest (8.08.02).

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION In the far southwest of Paraná State. To the south is the Argentinian border with Iguazu National Park across Rio Iguaçu; to the west, the nearby Paraguayan border. Three towns lie close together west of the park on the tri-state border: in Brazil, the city of Foz do Iguaçu, in Paraguay, Ciudad del Este across the Paraná River and in Argentina, Puerto Iguazu a few kilometers south. The Itaipu hydroelectric dam is twenty kilometres upstream of Foz do Iguaçu on the Paraná river. 25° 00'-25° 45'S, 53° 43'-54° 30'W.

DATE AND HISTORY OF ESTABLISHMENT

AREA 170,000ha (World Heritage nomination,1984); 170,086ha (IBDF management plan,1981).
The contiguous Iguazu National Park in Argentina is 49,200ha, the National Reserve, 6,300ha.

LAND TENURE The management plan states that 168,113ha are controlled by the IBDF (Instituto Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento Florestal). The World Heritage nomination states that the Federal Government owns the whole area, and that there is no private ownership within the park boundaries.

ALTITUDE 740m to 150m.

PHYSICAL FEATURES The main feature is the Iguaçu Falls in the far southwest of the park, where the Rio Iguaçu falls off the edge of the southern Brazilian plateau. They are just above the confluence of the Rio Paraná and the Rio Iguaçu which borders the whole southern edge of the park in forested generally flat land of red nutrient-poor semi-lateritic soils. The rocks are mainly Mesozoic basalt lavas interbedded with sandstones into which the river below the falls has cut the 80m wide gorge of the Garganto do Diablo, a fault-line canyon. The river is about 1,200m wide at the falls, contains a number of islands, and drops 72m in 150-300 cataracts over a 2,700m semicircular ledge cutting a giant staircase down the basalt. Of the total, some 800m are on the Brazilian side of the border.

CLIMATE The climate is humid subtropical with over 1700mm of annual rainfall and no dry season. The relative humidity is between 80-90%. The mist cloud creates a super-humid microclimate round the falls. Mean temperatures are 15° C in winter and 25° C in summer with an annual mean of 21° C which falls to 19° C above about 500m.

VEGETATION The Park is almost an island of southwestern Atlantic rainforest in the Paraná river valley which has largely been deforested for intensive agriculture. This humid subtropical rainforest covers about 90% of the park. The lower park is rich in tree ferns Cyatheaceae, lianas and epiphytes, with species of Ilex, Podocarpus, Aspidosperma, Cedrela and Philodendron. There is lush growth within the perpetual mist of spray. The upper park is mainly humid subtropical deciduous forest, but a small area in the northeast of the park has stands of the umbrella-shaped Paraná pine Araucaria angustifolia, here at its western limit, with two palms, the Assai palm Euterpe edulis, of which the heart is eaten, and wild coconut palm Cocos romanzoffiana, also imbuya or 'Brazilian walnut' Phoebe porosa.

FAUNA Fauna recorded within the park include giant otter Pteronura brasiliensis (V), La Plata otter Lutra platensis, coatimundi Nasua nasua, ocelot Felis pardalis, jaguar Panthera onca, puma Felis concolor, margay Leopardus wiedii, brocket deer Mazama rufina (LR) and American tapir Tapirus terrestris (LR). Bush dog Speothos venaticus (V) and giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla (V) have also been recorded (Jorge Padua et al.1974). There have been reports of black howler monkey Alouatta caraya, capybara Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris and usutu viper Bothrops alternata. Noteworthy birds recorded include solitary tinamou Tinamus solitarius (LR), harpy eagle Harpia harpyia (LR), black-fronted piping guan Pipile jacutinga (V), purplewinged ground dove Claravis godefrida (CR), glaucous macaw Anodorhynchus glaucus (EX), vinaceous-breasted parrot Amazona vinacea (E), red-spectacled parrot Amazona pretrei (E), and white-tailed trogon Trogon viridis, helmeted woodpecker Dryocopus galeatus (E), whitebearded antshrike Biatus nigropectus (V), russetwinged spadebill Platyrinchus leucocoryphus (V) and S.Paulo tyrrannulet Phylloscartes paulistus (V) (Wege & Long,1995). Broad-nosed caiman Caiman latirostris and dwarf caiman Paleosuchus palpebrosus are also recorded. The presence of black howler monkey is not noted in the management plan, which confirms the presence of all other mammal species. No comprehensive bird list is given in the plan, but it does confirm the presence of the endangered species, the glaucus macaw (IBDF,1981).

CULTURAL HERITAGE Before the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese, the area belonged to the Guarani people (Bailby, 1995).

LOCAL HUMAN POPULATION The population of Foz do Iguaçu has risen from 30,000 at the beginning of the 1960s to over 200,000 in the 1990s. The town is a major tourist destination mainly for people visiting duty free shops across the Paraguayan border in Cuidad del Este (Bailby, 1995).

VISITORS AND VISITOR FACILITIES The area is well served by roads, and is close to an airport. There is a large hotel within the park, a heliport, a museum, access roads, interpretive trails, viewpoints and a visitor centre, helicopter rides above the falls and boat trips up the river. The Brazilian and Argentinian sides are connected by a bridge downstream from the falls. Foz do Iguaçu, a few kilometers west, is the third largest tourist destination in Brazil, with 160 hotels, mainly serving tourists shopping in Paraguay. In 1994, 970,000 tourists visited the National Park (Bailby, 1995).

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND FACILITIES Research is under way into otter, giant anteater and harpy eagle and an assessment of the park‘s resources in order to assist management (IBDF,1987). There is accommodation for scientists and a museum with laboratory facilities.

CONSERVATION VALUE The park, with Iguazu National Park in Argentina, surrounds one of the world's greatest waterfalls, 2.7km in length. Together with the Uruguai Provincial Park in Argentina, the three parks form one of the most extensive remaining tracts of inland Atlantic rainforest. The park harbours threatened fauna including three endangered species of bird.

CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT The area is managed by the Instituto Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento Florestal (IDBF). Management and public use plans have been developed, and are reportedly being implemented. The park is zoned 80% Intangible which covers most of the central and eastern part of the park - Primitive (4%) - Extensive use (3%) - Intensive use – Recuperation - Special use - Cultural-Historic (13%). Following the closing by federal authorities of a road being built through the middle of the Park, a state and federal government group initiated studies and a project to promote sustainable income generation and employment for surrounding populations through organic agriculture crafts and ecotourism. IUCN and the World Heritage Committee recommended the removal of the Park’s listing in danger after a visit in 2002 which also studied transborder cooperation with Iguazu National Park in Argentina (UNESCO, 2002).

MANAGEMENT CONSTRAINTS The park lies in an area of intense agricultural development and close to several towns. Enforcement of boundaries is therefore a major difficulty; poaching of game and salmon and fires are particular problems. There are tourist helicopter flights over the falls which disturb the wildlife and some illegal tree felling of palm trees to collect palm hearts. Heavy siltation, rapid runoff and high diurnal temperature variations are thought to be due to the nearby Itaipu hydroelectric complex which created a 130,000ha lake and deforested the catchment. There are not enough forest rangers to effectively police so large an area and so many visitors (Bailby, 1995).

In May 1997 a group of some 800 people invaded the park and illegally started to reopen an old colonial road between two local towns which passed through 18km of the park until it was closed in 1986. The re-opened road would make the park more accessible for hunting, fishing and tree felling but the conservation authorities were unable to stop its construction because of political pressures. No new management plan to deal with the threats to the Park had been drawn up since the issues were first raised (UNESCO, 1997). However, the Federal authorities closed the road in June 2001, set up a police post at the entrance, scarified the whole length and planted 25,000 seedlings to replace the cleared vegetation (UNESCO,2002).

STAFF One director, ten administrative staff, 15 park guards and 17 general workers in 1981 (undated information).

BUDGET Cr$ 10,000,000 (about $US600,000) in 1981, with increased expenditure planned for 1982 through 1984, dropping to about Cr$ 5.5 million (US$327,000) per annum subsequently (undated information). In 2000, IBAMA allocated US$60,000 to close the road and restore the area.

LOCAL ADDRESSES

Administrator, Iguaçu National Park, 85.890 Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná.

REFERENCES

Some reference materials are available, including aerial photographs, maps and lists of flora and fauna

Bailby, E. (1995) The Iguaçu Falls. Unesco Courier  Nov. 01 1995.

Jorge Padua, M., Magnanini, A. & Mittermeier, R. (1974).  Brazil's national parks. Oryx  11(4): 452-464.

IBDF (1981). Plano de Manejo Parque Nacional do Iguaçu. Instituto Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento Florestal,      Brasilia.

IUCN (1985). World Heritage Nomination. Report to UNESCO, Paris.

UNESCO World Heritage Committee (1997). Report of the 21^st Session of the World Heritage Committee, Paris

UNESCO World Heritage Committee (2001). Report of the 24^thSession of the World Heritage Committee, Paris

UNESCO World Heritage Committee (2002). Report of the 26th Session of the World Heritage Committee, Paris

Wege, D. & Long, A. (1995). Key Areas for Threatened Birds in the Neotropics. Birdlife International, Cambridge,

            England

DATE October 1986. Updated 8/1997, July 2002.