A commission from Unesco will come to Brazil to carry out an in-person assessment of the park, but according to the Maranhão government, there is still no date for this to happen. The state governor is confident and wrote on social media that he has no doubt that the evaluators “will leave here enchanted by this natural paradise, the pride of all Maranhão residents”.
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O Lençóis National Park It is about 250 kilometers (km) from the capital São Luís and was created more than 40 years ago. It is the largest dune field in South America, with an area of 155 thousand hectares. In other words, larger than the city of São Paulo, it is famous for the crystal clear lagoons that form between the white dunes, during the rainy season. Currently, management is carried out by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).
According to the Ministry of the Environment, the Park meets at least three criteria required by UNESCO to become a world natural heritage site: natural beauty, significant geological features and habitats for the conservation of biodiversity, including threatened species. The application dossier of Maranhenses Sheets was forwarded in 2018 and the possible title will give more global visibility to the conservation of the area.
Brazil already has seven sites declared World Natural Heritage: the Iguaçu National Park, in Foz do Iguaçu, on the border between Paraná and Argentina; the Atlantic Forest reserves, in São Paulo and Paraná; the Discovery Coast, in Bahia and Espírito Santo; the Protected Areas of the Central Amazon and Pantanal; Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Park, in Goiás; in addition to the Fernando de Noronha archipelago and the Rocas Atoll. O Lençóis Maranhenses Park could become eighth on that list.
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(To Agency Brazil)
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