Iguaçu National Park
| Iguaçu National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Iguazu Falls
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| Location | Paraná State, Brazil |
| Coordinates | 25°41′S 54°26′W / 25.683°S 54.433°WCoordinates: 25°41′S 54°26′W / 25.683°S 54.433°W |
| Area | 1,700 km2 (660 sq mi) |
| Established | 10 January 1939 |
| Type | Natural |
| Criteria | vii, x |
| Designated | 1986 (10th session) |
| Reference no. | 355 |
| State Party | Brazil |
| Region | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Endangered | 1999–2001 |
Iguaçu National Park (Portuguese pronunciation: [iɡwaˈsu]) is a national park in Paraná State, Brazil. It comprises a total area of 185,262.5 hectares (457,794 acres) and a length of about 420 kilometres (260 mi), 300 kilometres (190 mi) of which are natural borders by bodies of water and the Brazilian and Argentinean sides together comprise around 225 hectares (560 acres). Iguaçu National Park was created by federal decree nr. 1035 of January 10, 1939, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. The park is managed by Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).
The park shares with Iguazú National Park in Argentina one of the world’s largest and most impressive waterfalls, extending over some 2,700 metres (8,900 ft). It is home to many rare and endangered species of flora and fauna, among them the giant otter and the giant anteater. The clouds of spray produced by the waterfall are conducive to the growth of lush vegetation.
The Iguaçu National Park owes its name to the fact it includes an important area of the Iguazu River (Portuguese: Rio Iguaçu). Approximately 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi) of the length of the river makes up the Iguaçu Falls.
It is the most important park of the Prata Basin and, since it is a haven to a significant genetic asset of animal and vegetal species, it was the first park in Brazil to receive a Management Plan. As foreseen by Rebouças, the park's basic goal is the preservation of the highly relevant ecologically and scenic natural ecosystems, thus enabling scientific research and the development of environmental education and interpretation activities, recreation in natural surroundings and the ecological tourism.
The Iguaçu National Park is spectacular as well as pioneering. The first proposal for a Brazilian national park aimed at providing a pristine environment to "future generations", just as "it had been created by God" and endowed with "all possible preservation, from the beautiful to the sublime, from the picturesque to the awesome" and "an unmatched flora" located in the "magnificent Iguaçu waterfalls". These were the words used by André Rebouças, an engineer, in his book "Provinces of Paraná, Railways to Mato Grosso and Bolivia", which started up the campaign aimed at preserving the Iguaçu Falls way back in 1876, when Yellowstone National Park, the first national park on the planet, was four years old.
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