The Tefé National Forest () is a

national forest National Forest may refer to: * National forest or state forest, a forest administered or protected by a sovereign state ** National forest (Brazil) ** National forest (France) ** National forest (United States) ** State Forests (Poland) ** The N ...

in Amazonas, Brazil. It protects a relatively well-preserved area of

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

to the south of the town of

Tefé Tefé, known in early accounts as Teffé, is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas, northern Brazil. History As early as 1620 the Portuguese Carmelites could already boast of converts amo ...

on the

Solimões River Solimões () is the name often given to upper stretches of the Amazon River in Brazil from its confluence with the Rio Negro upstream to the border of Peru. The Solimões flows for about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) through a floodplain about 80 km ...

(upper Amazon River). The resident population, scattered in small communities along the rivers, are engaged in sustainable farming, fishing and extraction of forest products.

Location

The Tefé National Forest is divided between the municipalities of

(46.27%}, Juruá (11.89%), Carauari (4.96%) and Alvarães (36.88%) in Amazonas. It has an area of . The forest is bounded by the

Tefé River The Tefé River (Teffé River in early accounts; ) is a tributary of the Amazon River ( Solimões section) in Amazonas state in north-western Brazil. The Tefé River flows through the Juruá-Purus moist forests ecoregion. It forms the eastern ...

to the east, the Bauana River, a tributary of the Tefé, to the north, the Andirá River, a tributary of the

Juruá River The Juruá River ( ; ) is a southern affluent river of the Amazon River west of the Purus River. The Juruá emerges from highlands in east-central Peru, then winds its way through lowlands in Brazil, sharing with this the bottom of the immense in ...

, to the west, and the Curumitá de Baixo River, a tributary of the Tefé, to the south. The Curimatá de Baixo runs through the reserve from southwest to northeast. The Baixo Juruá Extractive Reserve adjoins the extreme northwest of the forest.

History

The Tefé National Forest was created by federal decree 97.629 of 10 April 1989 with an estimated area of . 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 ...

VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources). The purpose is to support sustainable multiple use of forest resources, and scientific research with emphasis on methods for sustainable exploitation of native forests. The forest 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 a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

. The forest became part of the

Central Amazon Ecological Corridor The Central Amazon Ecological Corridor () is an ecological corridor in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, that connects a number of conservation units in the Amazon rainforest. The objective is to maintain genetic connectivity between the protected ...

, established in 2002. The consultative council was created on 24 February 2011. The profile of the beneficiary families was approved on 7 October 2015 and the management plan was approved on 23 February 2016.

Population

As of 2003 there was a low level of deforestation, largely due to the isolation of the forest from urban centers. As of 2006 there were 359 families with an estimated total of 2,154 people in the forest, living in 30 communities along the three main rivers. There were 124 families in 11 communities along the Tefé, 74 families in 8 communities along the Bauana and 171 families in 11 communities along the Curumitá de Baixo. The residents are mainly engaged in family farming, cultivating small fields of

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

to make flour. The surplus is marketed in the city of Tefé either directly or through middlemen. Other activities include artisan fishing and extraction of nuts, açaí, andiroba, copaiba and wood.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{National forest (Brazil) National forests of Brazil Protected areas of Amazonas (Brazilian state) 1989 establishments in Brazil Tefé