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Fossils are harvested and sold to collectors
Photos: João Paulo Capobianco |
One hundred and ten million years ago Nature immortalized the Cretacean
biodiversity in this region, preserving the fauna and the flora of different ecosystems:
riverine, lake and marine in what we today call the Araripe Sedimentary Basin. The
quantity, diversity and quality of fossil preservation have spiked the interest of
Brazilian and foreign investigators since the past century. Examples are Spix and
Marthius, George Gardner, Frederick Hartt and, among the Brazilians, the Baron of Capanema
and Freire Alemão can be mentioned among others. In this century, the number of
investigators and institutions which carry out research work in the area has grown
considerably, and resulted in a substantial production of scientific texts.
As scientific investigation grows, the illegal trade and smuggling of fossils
also increased, whose destination is decoration or the enrichment of private collections,
hardly ever authorized.
Present legislation, ancient and insufficient, as well as the minute staff of
the National Department of Mineral Production - DNPM do not afford effective and efficient
monitoring to protect this valuable heritage, now forgotten and pilfered. To monitor a 1.2
million hectare area, DNPM has two employees in the area.. |
PROTECTION AND RESEARCH
The Regional University of Cariri - URCA, through its Instituto Ecológico
Cultural Martins Filho - IEC-URCA and the Santana do Cariri Paleontological Museum have
developed an ensemble of actions aiming at the protection and scientific research of
fossils and fossil sites. Together with the Brazilian Society of Paleontology, they held a
workshop to rank priorities and goals for the preservation of paleodiversity in the
Araripe Basin.
 Among the disciplines discussed in the workshop and which are under
way are the implementation of a graduate program at the level of specialization in
paleontology, aiming at the training and development of human resources in the region; the
expansion and improvement of the Santana do Cariri Paleontological Museum, which will
comprise the anchor for the research and exhibition of the paleontological collection; the
creation of the Environmental Protection Area of the Chapada do Araripe, (at this time,
the EPA zoning and management plan are being prepared); the XVI Brazilian Congress of
Paleontology in August 1999, which aims at joining together Brazilian and foreign
paleontologists seeking to increase investigation efforts in the region; and a law bill in
process in Senate, submitted by Senator Lúcio Alcântara, dealing with the protection of
fossils and fossil sites.
Because of the importance of paleontological sites not only for Brazil
but also for all mankind, it is necessary to trigger off a campaign aiming at registering
the area as a Legacy to Mankind, and this initiative will be the next step to be taken by
local community together with the many strategic partners of governmental agencies and
NGOs.
 The development of Paleontological Education efforts, associated to
environmental research already under way, are the greatest challenge for the change of
habits and behavioral patters which are harmful to fossils and fossil sites, immortalized
110 million years ago, a legacy which is being criminally eroded.
Francisco Cunha is a biologist and associate professor at the Cariri
Regional University - URCA. |
In this continental country
That the people call Brazil
In the heart of the Northeast
Where the environment is most hostile
Where caatinga is at its finest
Divine Providence
Made a vigorous flatland
ARARIPE, said the Indians
Aptly gave it its name
That was the "River of the Araras"
That today is no more
Such as the wild tusker pig
Guariba monkey, armadillo and the jaguar
They’re no more in this country.
Araripe Flatlands,
Beauty unequaled,
Exuberant woods,
And a special mild climate,
Mighty high altitude
Double average rainfall,
Compared to the Central Badlands
Thirty leagues long
Five to twelve wide
Araripe is in fact
An angel of a thing
The waters that fall here
Have as destination
The mitigation of drought
Excerpt from cordel literature work APA-Araripe, by Willian Brito,
head of the Araripe National Forest and President of the Crato’s Cordelistas’
Academy. |
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Araripe Flatlands are now
Environmental Protection Area
A privileged site in the Northeast, the Araripe Flatlands have abundant water,
fertile soil, over 90% of the domestic gypsum reserves, besides, limestone, clay and
non-metallic minerals. Despite all this, the Araripe region, located in three states
(Ceará, Pernambuco and Piauí), the region suffers under remarkably high poverty rates
and human action has left harmful tracks in the environment, extinguishing animal species
and causing draughts.
Topography is a highlight of the Araripe FlatlandsTo turn this scenario around, in 1990, during the I Symposium of the
Northeastern Ecological Society, held in Crato, the creation of the EPA-Araripe was
proposed (The Chapada do Araripe Environmental Protection Area). Following years of
mobilization, the EPA was signed amidst celebrations and with the presence of president
Fernando Henrique Cardoso on March 30 1996.
Having 2,403,438 hectares, 21 municipalities in Ceará, 11 in
Pernambuco and 7 in Piauí, the EPA-Araripe has as its main objective to ensure conditions
for the survival of Araripe human populations. However, without the implementation of
zoning and a management plan the EPA will remain a paper idea (MC) |
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National
Forest to celebrate 52nd anniversary
Created in 1946 during the Dutra administration, the Araripe
National Forest is the oldest conservation unit of the Araripe Flatlands and has 32,262
hectares, comprising part of the municipalities of Santana do Cariri, Crato, Barbalha and
Jardim, the Southern tip of Ceará. Located in a region where soil and climate conditions
are favorable to desertification; where the native plant coverage area between 1984 and
1990 reached 274,950 km2, the Flona (National Forest) Araripe is vested with a great
importance in the maintenance of the hydrological, climatic, ecological and edaphic
balance of the Araripe Sedimentary Complex.
Being a Direct Use Conservation Unit, Flona Araripe carries
out scientific investigation, recreation and leisure activities, environmental education,
forestry management and tourism. It has different facets, ranging from carrasco (a
formation with a strong adaptation to drought), a rainforest degraded by fire,
semiperfenifoliate rainforest, transition between rainforest/cerrado and cerrado.
It is home to 38 bird species, of which at least two are endangered) and mammals such
as deer, anteaters, jaguars and wildcats.
Besides the shortage of human resources and equipments,
anthropic pressure, forest fires, highways crossing the forest and the poverty of its
buffer zone are the main problems of Flona Araripe. (MC) |
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