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Protecting the Amazon Rain Forest - ARPA Project                                                     December 13, 2005
Amazon Region Protected Areas Project (ARPA)
The vision of the Amazon Region Protected Areas
Project (ARPA) is to create a mosaic of protected
areas around productive landscapes to maintain
the ecological integrity of the region over the long
term. 

The project aims to add  28 million hectares in new
protected areas (PAs) in the Brazilian Amazon over
the next 10 years, while helping to consolidate the
existing protected areas system. This will result in a
total of 50 million hectares of Amazon forested
ecosystems under protection and sustainable use,
                                                         The ARPA project will result in a total of 50
an area the size of Spain.
                                                         million hectares of Amazon forested
                                                         ecosystems under protection and sustainable
The program is being implemented in three phases.        use, an area the size of Spain.
The first (ongoing) phase seeks to:

       Create 18 million hectares of new protected
       areas using a conservation mosaic approach
                                                          
       Consolidate the management of existing and
       newly created PAs
        
       Establish and operate a fund to meet the
                                                             Financing
       recurrent costs of managing PAs
                                                             Total cost : $81.5 million
       Establish and operate a biodiversity
       monitoring and evaluation system                      Sources of funding:
                                                             Global Environment Facility (GEF)
                                                             World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
                                                             KfW (German development bank)
The second two phases will aim to establish an               8 State Governments
additional 19 million hectares of new strict
protection PAs, consolidate management of the                Implementing agency
existing PAs, and support their long-term
                                                             Ministry of the Environment
sustainability.
                                                             Brazilian Fund for Biodiversity

ARPA has already achieved a number of results:
                                                             More details
       15 million hectares of new protected areas             Full project information & documents
       decreed
        
       A Protected Areas Fund established and
       endowed with $8 million
        
       Relationships established between ARPA
       and key stakeholders throughout the
       Brazilian Amazon
        
       Processes established to allow funding to
       reach isolated protected areas

Updated: December 2005