Central Amazon Ecological Corridor

Central Amazon Ecological Corridor
Corredor Ecológico Central da Amazônia
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Anavilhanas National Park from the air
Coordinates	3°20′S 67°55′W / 3.33°S 67.92°W / -3.33; -67.92Coordinates: 3°20′S 67°55′W / 3.33°S 67.92°W / -3.33; -67.92
Area	52,159,206 hectares (128,888,200 acres)
Designation	Ecological corridor
Created	15 March 2002
Administrator	Federal Ministry of the Environment

The Central Amazon Ecological Corridor (Portuguese: Corredor Ecológico Central da Amazônia) 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 areas without penalizing the local people, where possible using participatory planning that involves all affected actors.

The Central Amazon Ecological Corridor connects a number of conservation units in the central Amazon region with a combined area of 52,159,206 hectares (128,888,200 acres). The corridor covers parts of the Solimões and Negro river basins, mostly in the state of Amazonas but with a small portion in the state of Pará. The main urban centers in the corridor are the cities of Manaus, Manacapuru and Tefé. If indigenous territories are included, over 70% of the corridor was contained in protected areas in 2005.

The corridor is of great ecological importance. It includes parts of several major rivers with different aquatic environments such as the Jutaí, Japurá, Juruá, Solimões, Tefé and Rio Negro, and many smaller rivers, streams, bayous, and várzea and terra firma lakes. It covers formations from the Tertiary period with terra firma and black water and and Holocene floodplains formed by the deposit of white water sediments. Unlike other ecological corridors in Brazil there is very high connectivity between the conservation units, so genetic transfer has not been strangled by human disturbance in the unprotected areas.

Implementation of protected reserves and parks has not guaranteed sustainability of natural systems due in part to lack of supporting infrastructure and staff, to the isolation of the protected units as islands, and to lack of involvement of actors within and around the protected unit. In an attempt to address this, ecological corridors are assembled from protected areas, indigenous lands and areas with different types of land use, forming a connected whole. The management approach is participatory, involving government and non-government actors. The Central Amazon Corridor and the Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor were prioritized to test and address different conditions in the two main forest biomes in Brazil. Lessons learned would be applied in creation of other corridors.