MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL/ The discovery of a new primate species and suspected new fish and plant species and the presence of other animals in endangered categories highlight an urgent need for management plans for some of the last unexplored areas in the Amazon. 

A team discovered a new primate species and possible new fish and plant species and also sighted five animals on the endangered species list of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA).

Amazing discoveries

The findings were made on an expedition backed by the Brazilian Office of the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, in December 2010. A group of 26 people went through the Mato Grosso state that is considered to be an unexplored area in the Meridional Brazilian Amazon.

In the place, researchers took specimens of the discoveries which are now being examined and detailed studies will verify if these do in fact come from a new species. More than 950km of forest inside the four protected areas of the Guariba-Roosevelt Extractive Reserve, the Tucumã State Park and the Roosevelt River and Madeirinha River Ecological Stations, were traveled.

The areas were created back in the 1990s but now are under threat from social and environmental problems including serious land tenure conflicts, illegal deforestation, illegal fishing activities, and exploitation of local labour in irregular activities such as large scale ranching and commercial plantations.

Big travel, big rewards

The aim of the expedition was to gather information to support the improvement of the management plans for the Mato Grosso state protected areas.

Forty-eight different species that were discovered are being described at Emilo Goeldi Museum in Pará. The animals include, armadillos, anteaters, deer and monkeys and a primate species that is being considered as new to science.

The team members investigating the region’s fish registered 208 species, of which 192 have had their identities confirmed and 16 are still being processed. Among these last 16 there may also be two previously undescribed species. The team’s bird specialists identified 313 bird species, including two migratory species and some that had previously only been registered in other South American countries.

More to see

The team also brought two possible new species back to the laboratories; one is a catfish and the other a tetra, a small brightly coloured freshwater fish. Other very small fish were found, known locally as ‘piaus’ and they too may have new species among them. 

 The expedition discovered, too, several threatened species, according to the expedition’s preliminary report signed by the biologist in charge of the mammal species studies Júlio Dalponte. These animals were: the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), the jaguar (Panthera onca) and the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis).

Geographer Gustavo Irgang, who with WWF-Brazil was jointly responsible for the overall coordination of the expedition, said “We fulfilled our schedule, there were no serious setbacks and we got back to our laboratories and study centres with the possible discovery of new species. We only have reasons to celebrate”.

Under threat

Over the coming months all the information will be set out in reports that will provide support for the formulation of management plans for the protected areas, amid to protect species.

The region drained by the Guariba and Roosevelt rivers lies within the Juruena-Apuí block. The block consists of around nine million hectares and is covered by forests, some of them flooded, and patches of Cerrado formation.Together they are home to 500 species of birds and a variety of primate species. 

Non Governmental Organizations are developing great efforts since the beginning of this Century in the area to combat deforestation and contribute to the conservation of the Amazon. The area explored by the expedition team is overrun with illegal loggers and occupied by huge cattle farms. 

Social conflicts

The region is facing more threats, where lodging is the main factor. Violence associated with land tenure conflicts and social problems such as lack of health or education services and electricity supplies are very common throughout the area.

Additionally, there are environmental problems like predatory forms of fishing, contamination of river water, deforestation, unchecked expansion of agricultural activities and lack of surveillance and inspection on the part of the state and federal environment authorities. 

Brazil´s forests are facing devastation in a moment when political leaders are trying to promote an amendment to the country´s forest law, which gives the option to anyone who owns land to give commercial purposes to it, including protected areas.

Battle against disappearance

Brazil´s forests are more than ever in the eye of the hurricane. With the endorsement of the new law in the coming days and growing deforestation, efforts to protect the areas are being done.

One person trying to deal with some of these problems is Edelso Ferreira Rodrigues who is manager of the Tucumã State Park and the Roosevelt River and Madeirinha River Ecological Stations.

In his struggle to protect these zones he faces a number of challenges, “Logistics here are naturally complicated and up until a few months ago we did not even have a boat for the work in the protected areas. I carried out inspections using borrowed or hired boats and often had to pay for the fuel out of my own pocket” says Edelso. 

Acute situation

According to Edelso the government is starting to allocate a larger budget for these PAs equipment is starting to arrive and members of the government’s technical staff make their visits more frequently.

But presence is not enough. The state of Mato Grosso was the state with the most destroyed vegetation in its territories in January 2011, according to the most recent issue of the bulletin Forest Transparency – the Legal Amazon published by the Deforestation Warning Service of the Man and the Amazon Environment Institute (SAD/Imazon).

The bulletin reports that in the first month of 2011, 47 square kilometres of vegetation in Mato Grosso was destroyed, the equivalent of over half of all the devastation registered for the Amazon in the same period. In January 2011 the State had 353 square kilometres of degraded forests corresponding for 93% of the areas for the entire Amazon region at the time.