Viruá National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional do Viruá) is 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 the state of

Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...

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 ...

. It protects an area with very infertile sandy soil, periodically flooded, that has no economic value but has exceptionally high

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

Location

The Viruá National Park is in the

Caracaraí Caracaraí () is a municipality located in the state of Roraima in Brazil. Its population is 22,283 and its area is , making it the largest municipality in Roraima state. Caracaraí is located on the Branco River. Overview Caracaraí was found ...

municipality of Roraima. It has an area of . The main river is the Viruá Igarapé, a blackwater river with little sediment, which flows into the

Anauá River The Anauá River is a river of the state of Roraima in northern Brazil. It is a tributary of the Branco River. In the Tupi language Anauá translates to flowering tree. See also *List of rivers of Roraima List of rivers in Roraima (Brazilian ...

along the southern limit of the park. The Anauá in turn feeds the

Branco River The Branco River ( pt, Rio Branco; Engl: ''White River'') is the principal affluent of the Rio Negro from the north. Basin The river drains the Guayanan Highlands moist forests ecoregion. It is enriched by many streams from the Tepui highlands w ...

, which forms the western boundary of the park. The

Caracaraí Ecological Station Caracaraí Ecological Station ( pt, Estação Ecológica de Caracaraí) is an ecological station in the state of Roraima, Brazil. Location The ecological station, which covers , was created on 31 May 1982. It is in the municipality of Caracara ...

and

Niquiá Ecological Station Niquiá Ecological Station ( pt, Estação Ecológica de Níquia) is an ecological station in the Caracaraí municipality of Roraima state, Brazil. History The station, which has an area of , was created on 3 June 1985. It is administered by the ...

lie along the opposite shore of the Branco River. The park adjoins the Baixo Rio Branco-Jauaperi Extractive Reserve to the south and the

Anauá National Forest The Anauá National Forest ( pt, Floresta Nacional de Anauá) is a national forest in the state of Roraima, Brazil. Overview The creation of the national forest was an initiative of the citizens of Rorainópolis in cooperation with the local lo ...

to the southeast.

History

The Viruá National Park was created by decree on 29 April 1998. 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 ...

II (national park). Objectives are to preserve natural ecosystems of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty, and to enable scientific research, educational activities, environmental interpretation, recreation in contact with nature and ecological tourism. 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 ...

. The conservation unit is supported by the

Amazon Region Protected Areas Program The Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA; pt, Programa Áreas Protegidas da Amazônia) is a joint initiative sponsored by government and non-government agencies to expand protection of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Foundation The Amaz ...

. On 4 November 2010 public consultation began on expanding the area of the park. The consultative council was created on 20 November 2012. The management plan was approved on 17 April 2014.

Environment

The park covers an extensive sandy plain, and holds the Viruá alluvial "megafan". Soils are extremely poor in nutrients and highly acidic. There is no potential for farming, grazing or forestry. The park is subject to seasonal flooding. The park holds a great patchwork of

campinarana Campinarana (NT0158, ), also called Rio Negro Campinarana, is a neotropical ecoregion in the Amazon biome of the north west of Brazil and the east of Colombia that contains vegetation adapted to extremely poor soil. It includes savanna, scrub an ...

s and open or closed canopy forests. The many environments support high biodiversity, and the park is one of the main areas for studying campinarana. More than 2,000 plants species have been identified, and it is estimated that there are more than 5,000 in total, making it one of the most botanically diverse conservation units in Brazil.

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Virua National Park National parks of Brazil Protected areas of Roraima Ramsar sites in Brazil