Meio Ambiente

Deep in the heart of the Brazilian state of Amapá, Tumucumaque Mountains National Park - the world's largest tropical forest park - will soon harbour a centre for biodiversity research. An agreement to establish a Franco-Brazilian Centre for Amazonian Biodiversity/University of Amazonia (Centro Franco-Brasileiro de Biodiversidade Amazônica/ Universidade da Amazônia) was formalized by France and Brazil during French president Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to the latter in December 2008. The Brazilian interministerial group which will give shape to this new bilateral institution held its first meeting yesterday, in Brasília.

The centre will educate specialists in Amazon biodiversity and allow for research on the biome's genetic resources and access to traditional knowledge and product development. The agreement foresees that part of research benefits will go to forest populations.

During the meeting, Brazilian ministers of the Environment, Carlos Minc; of Education, Fernando Haddad; of Science and Technology, Sérgio Rezende; and of External Relations, Celso Amorim, defined members of the interministerial group which will develop the centre, to be coordinated by Brazil's Ministry of Science and Technology. The group's next meeting is in April, so as to decide subsequent phases, such as defining the exact place which will harbour the centre.

Tumucumaque National Park was created by the Brazilian government on August 23, 2002, hand in hand with Conservation International and the World Wildlife Fund. It covers an area of about 3, 8 million hectares - or twice the size of Wales - across more than half the state of Amapá and a small part of Pará. Part of the Guyana Shield which stretches from Venuzuela to eastern Brazil.

it contains endangered species such as the harpy eagle, the jaguar and the spider monkey. Scientists estimate that, altogether, the park contains at least eight primate species, 350 bird species and 37 lizard species. It also shelters a number of animals threatened elsewhere. An estimated 42 percent of all lizards, 31 percent of all birds and 12 percent of the primates known to exist in the entire Brazilian Amazon live here.