Guiana Amazonian Park (french: Parc amazonien de Guyane) is the largest national park of France, aiming at protecting part of the Amazonian forest located in

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

which covers 41% of the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. It is the largest park in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

as well as the largest park in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and one of the largest national parks in the world. It cannot be accessed from the seashore or by any means other than airplane or

pirogue A pirogue ( or ), also called a piragua or piraga, is any of various small boats, particularly dugouts and native canoes. The word is French and is derived from Spanish , which comes from the Carib '. Description The term 'pirogue' does n ...

. The protected area covers some for the central area (where full protection is enforced) and for the secondary area. Thus, the overall protected area represents some of

rain forest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

. The park has been built on territories belonging to the

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

Camopi Camopi is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. Camopi is mainly inhabited by Amerindians of the Wayampi and Teko tribes. History In 1738, a Jesuit mission opened on the river ...

Maripasoula Maripasoula, previously named Upper Maroni, is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. With a land area of , Maripasoula is the largest commune of France. Geography The Lawa and Maron ...

Papaïchton Papaichton (unofficial spelling Papaïchton with a trema) is a commune in the overseas region and department of French Guiana. The village lies on the shores of the Lawa River. Papaichton is served by the Maripasoula Airport. The village whi ...

Saint-Élie Saint-Élie is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France in South America. In 1930, Saint-Élie became capital of the Inini territory. From 1953 onward, the commune was called Centre. In 1969, it was renamed to Sai ...

, and Saül.

History

In the framework of the Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the project of a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

in French Guiana was initiated on June 4, 1992, with the impetus provided by

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

. This was formalised through a draft agreement signed by the presidents of the

general council General council may refer to: In education: * General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland * General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and senio ...

and of the regional council of French Guiana, and also by the French Ministers of the

Environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, of the Overseas Departments and Territories and of Agriculture and Forestry. Following this, in 1993 the ''Mission for the Creation of the French Guiana National Park'' was created. A first project was proposed in late 1995 but was finally rejected in December 1997. On June 21, 1998, the ''Twenké agreement'' led to the recognition of the rights of the native

Amerindians The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Ame ...

and of the Businengue (

Maroons Maroons are descendants of African diaspora in the Americas, Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples, eventually ethnogenesi ...

) living within the future park's boundaries. The final project was presented in early 2006. On March 6, 2006, the decree relating to the project of the national park being taken into account was published in the

Official Journal of the French Republic An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

. Within it, the national park's name was switched to ''Guiana Amazonian Park''. Canopée forêt guyanaise

The creation of the park was made effective by decree on February 28, 2007, despite the reluctance of several protagonists involved (

and regional council of French Guiana). The park's governing body met for the first time on June 7, 2007.

Extent

Within the central area, maximal protection is enforced and

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...

is strictly forbidden. However, the lands of the

Aluku The Aluku are a Bushinengue ethnic group living mainly on the riverbank in Maripasoula in southwest French Guiana. The group are sometimes called Boni, referring to the 18th-century leader, Bokilifu Boni. History The Aluku are an ethnic gro ...

Wayana The Wayana (alternate names: Ajana, Uaiana, Alucuyana, Guaque, Ojana, Oyana, Orcocoyana, Pirixi, Urukuena, Waiano etc.) are a Carib-speaking people located in the southeastern part of the Guiana highlands, a region divided between Brazil, Suri ...

Wayampi The Wayampi or Wayãpi are an indigenous people located in the south-eastern border area of French Guiana at the confluence of the rivers Camopi and Oyapock, and the basins of the Amapari and Carapanatuba Rivers in the central part of the state ...

and Teko tribes in

and

do not belong to this core area. The Teko considered it a restriction of their free movement, and the Aluku objected to restrictions to their sacred areas. The restriction of all previously acquired rights of the tribal inhabitants, resulted the exception of the inhabited tribal zone. Put together with

Tumucumaque National Park The Tumucumaque Mountains National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional Montanhas do Tumucumaque; ) is situated in the Amazon Rainforest in the Brazilian states of Amapá and Pará. It is bordered to the north by French Guiana and Suriname. History ...

(covering some in neighbouring

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

), the Guiana Amazonian Park represents the biggest rain forest protected area in the world.

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website
* {{authority control Camopi Environment of French Guiana Geography of French Guiana Maripasoula National parks of France Papaichton Protected areas established in 2007 Protected areas of French Guiana Saint-Élie Saül, French Guiana Tourist attractions in French Guiana