Guianas Amazon Northeast Conservation
Alliance Created at COP 21 to Protect the
Largest Block of Intact Tropical Rainforest
in The World
France, Suriname, Brazil, Conservation International, WWF and [PARTNERS] form the Guianas
Amazon Northeast Conservation Alliance to protect more than 30 million hectares of tropical
forest and help mitigate global climate change
Paris, FRANCE; (December XX, 2015) – At the UN Climate Negotiations in Paris, the governments of
Brazil, Suriname, and France, united with Conservation International, WWF Guianas, WWF France, and
[PARTNERS] to form the Guianas Amazon Northeast Conservation Alliance (GANECA). This alliance will
guarantee the protection of 30 million hectares – an area nearly the size of Norway – of intact tropical
rainforest in the Amazon’s Guiana Shield, part of the largest tract of intact tropical forests on the planet.
The formation of GANECA comes as leaders from around the world are gathered in Paris to
negotiate a deal on climate change.
The Guianas Amazon Northeast region spans 250 million hectares across Suriname, Guyana,
French Guiana, and parts of Venezuela, Colombia and the Brazilian States of Amapa and Para.
This area, roughly the size of France, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Portugal
combined, is home to about 250,000 people who depend on the forest for their well-being.
This region plays a significant role in mitigating global climate change, as it contains more than
25% of the worlds remaining intact rainforest, stores more than 25 billion tons of carbon and
absorbs 1.3 billion tons of carbon each year – the equivalent of the annual carbon emissions of
Japan. A paper published this week1 has estimated that protecting and restoring tropical forests
could provide as much as 50% of the solution to climate change by maintaining existing stocks
and adding to the amount of carbon that is stored in forests through restoration.
GANECA will promote conservation efforts across the region to protect critical ecosystem services and
help fight global climate change.
1
Houghton, R.A., Byers B, Nassikas, B. Tropical Forests Could Be As Important As Fossil Fuels in Stabilizing Atmospheric CO2
Gilles Kleitz, the Director of French Guiana’s Amazonian Park, representing the Government of France,
“regional coordination between large conservation areas, including Brazil’s 3.8 hectare Tumucumaque
National Park, French Guiana’s 3.4 million hectare Amazonian Park, and Suriname’s 7.2 million hectare
South Suriname Conservation Corridor and 1.6 million hectare Central Suriname Nature Reserve, as well
as other potential protected areas and forests across the region, will ensure the integrity of the vast
forest and river ecosystems and the livelihoods they support, mitigating the effects of climate change.
The cross-border collaboration of this innovative regional initiative provides enormous opportunities for
synergies and mitigation effects that cannot be overstated.
Brazil Quote insert and reference to REDPARQUES….
“This region is by far the most intact, and pristine, tropical rain forest region left Earth. If one looks only
at the immediately contiguous protected areas, reserves and indigenous territories in the BrazilSuriname-French Guiana borders, we are already at some 20 million hectares under some form of
protection, and this increases to 30 million or more if we include at other areas that could be added. This
is an area larger than the American state of Florida, and yet has only a few thousand indigenous
inhabitants,” said Russ Mittermeier, Executive Vice-Chair of Conservation International who has worked
in this region for 40 years. “Given the new information that just appeared showing that tropical forests
could be as much as 50% of the solution to climate change overall, protecting incredibly important intact
areas like the Guiana Shield is an incredibly cost effective measure – a real “no-brainer”.”
“Economic development and well-being of the people of the Eastern Guiana Shield and North Eastern
Amazon must be fostered. We must ensure that a long-term sustainable future is not traded-in for shortterm economic gain that impedes the region’s ability of the region to support livelihoods, mitigate
climate change, provide freshwater and other ecosystem services, and protect biodiversity in one of the
most biologically rich regions on Earth” says, Hesdy Esajas, Director of Forest Management Service,
Suriname
Protected Areas, freshwater markets, ecotourism and cultural tourism, ecosystem-based adaptation,
and non-timber forest products, are all routes that can provide a economic development path that has a
low carbon profile and protects biodiversity. Fostering such activities is an important step towards a
more prosperous and enduring future.
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For more information, visit: [URL]
Contact:
Kevin Connor, Media Manager, Conservation International
Office +1 703 341 2405/ mobile +1 410 868 1369/ email kconnor@conservation.org
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Since 1987, Conservation International has been working to improve human well-being through the care
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