The Mananciais do Rio Paraíba do Sul Environmental Protection Area ( pt, Área de Proteção Ambiental Mananciais da Bacia Hidrográfica do rio Paraíba do Sul) is an environmental protection area in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Brazil.

Location

The Mananciais do Rio Paraíba do Sul Environmental Protection Area has an area of about . In São Paulo it covers parts of the municipalities of Areias, Arujá, Bananal, Cachoeira Paulista, Cruzeiro,

Guaratinguetá Guaratinguetá is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 122,505 (2020 est.) in an area of 752.64 km2. It is located in the region of ...

Guarulhos Guarulhos () is a Brazilian municipality. It is the second most populous city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, the 13th most populous city in Brazil, and is also the most populous city in the country that is not a state capital. In the last ...

Igaratá Igaratá is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 9,583 (2020 est.) in an area of 292.95 km². The elevation is 745 m. This place name comes ...

Jacareí Jacareí () is a city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The population is 235,416 (2020 est.) in an area of 464.27 km2. The city is known as "Capital of Beer" by the daily output of its factories, considered the biggest in Latin America. T ...

Jambeiro Jambeiro is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 6,717 (2020 est.) in an area of 184.41 km². The elevation is 695 m. The municipality con ...

Lavrinhas Lavrinhas is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is formed by the seat and district of Pinheiros (which includes the hamlet of Capela do Jacu). The municipality is crossed by many rivers, creeks and so on; the main ones are: Jac ...

Monteiro Lobato José Bento Renato Monteiro Lobato (18 April 1882 – 4 July 1948) was one of Brazil's most influential writers, mostly for his children's books set in the fictional Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (Yellow Woodpecker Farm) but he had been previously ...

Natividade da Serra Natividade da Serra (meaning "the nativity of the mountain") is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 6,642 (2020 est.) in an area of 833.37 ...

Paraibuna Paraibuna is a municipality (''município'') in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 18,263 (2020 est.) in an area of 809.58 km². The elevation is 635 m. T ...

Piquete Piquete is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 13,575 (2020 est.) in an area of 176.00 km². The elevation is 645 m. The municipality co ...

, Queluz,

Redenção da Serra Redenção da Serra (Portuguese for Redemption of the mountains) is a municipality ''(município)'' in the eastern part of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population ...

Santa Branca Santa Branca is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 14,857 (2020 est.) in an area of 272.24 km2. The elevation is 648 m. The Rodovia ...

, Santa Isabel,

Silveiras Silveiras is a municipality in São Paulo State, Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 6,339 (2020 est.) in an area of 414.78 km². The elevation is 615 m. The municipality conta ...

São José do Barreiro SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

São José dos Campos São José dos Campos (, meaning Saint Joseph of the Fields) is a major city and the seat of the Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the same name in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. One of the leading industrial and res ...

and

Taubaté Taubaté is a medium-sized city in the State of São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil. Location Its strategic location between the two most important Brazilian cities (São Paulo away, and Rio de Janeiro away), connected to both by the Presiden ...

. Altitudes range from . Temperatures range from with an average of . The APA contains the Paraibuna, Santa Branca and Rio Jaguari reservoirs. It covers parts of the basins of the Paraitinga and

rivers, tributaries of the

Paraíba do Sul The Paraíba do Sul (), or simply termed Paraíba, is a river in southeast Brazil. It flows west to northeast from its farthest source at the source of the river Paraitinga to the sea near Campos dos Goytacazes. The river receives its name when ...

, as well as the basins of the

Jaguari Jaguari is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), located in the South Region of Brazil. Rio ...

, Buquira, Una, Bocaina and Bananal rivers.

Environment

The vegetation is in the

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

biome, with dense high montane, montane and low montane rainforest. In the lower, warmer slopes of the

Paraíba Valley The Paraíba Valley ( pt, Vale do Paraíba) is a landform that encompasses the regions: Paraíba Valley Metropolitan Region and Northern Coast, in the state of São Paulo and Sul-Fluminense Region, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which stands out ...

there is semi-deciduous forest with '' cerrado'' enclaves. Cerrado species include '' Alibertia elliptica'', '' Cupania oblongifolia'' and '' Miconia ferruginata''. Endemic species of fauna include

buffy-tufted marmoset The buffy-tufted marmoset (''Callithrix aurita''), also known as the buffy tufted-ear marmoset or white-eared marmoset, is a New World monkey that lives in the forests on the Atlantic coast of southeast Brazil. Of all the marmosets, it has the so ...

(''Callithrix aurita''),

white-bearded antshrike The white-bearded antshrike (''Biatas nigropectus'') is a species of bird in the family Thamnophilidae, the only member of the genus ''Biatas''. It is endemic to the Atlantic forest of Argentina and Brazil. The white-bearded antshrike is a bambo ...

(''Biatas nigropectus''),

brown-backed parrotlet The brown-backed parrotlet (''Touit melanonotus'') also known as the black-backed parrotlet, the black-eared parrotlet, and Wied's parrotlet, is a small () green parrot found in south-eastern Brazil from Bahia to southern São Paulo. It has a dar ...

(''Touit melanonotus'') and

vinaceous-breasted amazon The vinaceous-breasted amazon (''Amazona vinacea'') is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical ...

(''Amazona vinacea'').

History

Mananciais do Rio Paraíba do Sul Environmental Protection Area was created by federal decree 87.561 on 13 September 1982 to restore and protect the hydrographic basin of the Paraíba do Sul. It is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...

(ICMBio). It is classed as

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

V (protected landscape/seascape). The purpose is to protect the sources of the Paraiba do Sul, to protect biological diversity, to control settlement and to ensure sustainable use of natural resources. On 9 April 2012 a working group was established to coordinate environmental assessment of forest fragments in the APA. The municipality of São José dos Campos gave ICMBio the right to use an old weaving mill in the Burle Marx City Park, which was being prepared in 2013. The building would be used by municipal, state and federal environmental agencies and environmental police. The APA is part of the Mantiqueira Mosaic of conservation units, established in 2006.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{authority control Environmental protection areas of Brazil Protected areas of São Paulo (state) 1982 establishments in Brazil