The Vale Zoobotanical Park is now adding a new chapter to its history. The space is now called BioPark Vale Amazonia and is designed to be one of the main centers for biodiversity research, conservation and education in in the Northern region of Brazil. Founded about 40 years ago and installed in the heart of the Carajás National Forest, in the Parauapebas, city of Southeast of the State of Pará, the biopark has a footprint of 30 hectares, of which about 70% corresponds to native forest, divided into 29 enclosures, with over 360 animals and a herbarium, with 10 thousand plants cataloged and certified by the New York Botanical Garden.

On the research front, in a partnership with the Vale Technology Institute for Sustainable Development (Instituto Tecnológico Vale – Desenvolvimento Sustentável, ITV-DS), the biopark carries out studies with the DNA of Amazon species, operating as a route for scientific works at universities in Brazil and abroad. The space also has a visitor center, an exhibition room, an orchid garden, and an immersion aviary with over 65 birds of 22 species, living out of cages and flying over the visitors. Other structures such as a veterinary hospital, poultry breeding sector, vivarium (a place dedicated to the study of animal life, reproduction and maintenance) and a nutrition room are dedicated to taking care of the animals at BioPaque Vale Amazônia.

“The name change is an attempt to show the external public what we have been doing here for years, which is to focus on activities that ensure animal well-being and on the relationship between man and nature, promoting daily immersion within the Amazon Forest as a living space, research center and conservation effort for Amazonian fauna and flora, in addition to various activities related to environmental education for youth and adults”, explains Valéria Franco, executive manager of Health, Safety, Environment, Emergency and Risks for the North Corridor.

BioPark Vale Amazonia has already recorded important births of endangered species of the Amazon fauna, such as howler monkeys and red-faced spider monkeys, king vultures and six jaguar cubs. It was at this park that the first reproductive success of a harpy eagle, the largest eagle found in Brazil, took place. Specimens of ararajuba, a bird that is a symbol of the Amazon, were sent to the Utinga Environmental Park, a state conservation unit in the Metropolitan Region of Belém, to be reintroduced in nature.

The biopark supervisor, Cesar Neto, emphasizes that, for visitors, the visit will continue to provide the same experience of enjoying the landscape and learning more about the flora and fauna preserved therein. “Our service to the public is not changing. We will continue to welcome our daily visitors, as well as school groups, university students and researchers who seek us as a reference center for research on the region's fauna and flora”, he says.

The importance of BioParks in the Decade of Restoration

The United Nations’ General Assembly declared the period of 2021-2030 as the “Decade of Ecosystem Restoration”, with the main goal of increasing efforts to restore degraded ecosystems, creating efficient measures to mitigate climate, food and water crises and the loss of biodiversity.

The latest report on the human impact on nature, published by the UN, shows that nearly 1 million species and plants are at risk of extinction. And, within this context, bioparks play an important role in conserving Brazilian biodiversity, with the development of research and environmental education actions.

In Pará, Vale supports the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) in protecting an area of 800 thousand hectares, comprising six conservation units. It is the largest plot of continuous forest in the southeastern part of the state. Over 1,000 species of Amazonian fauna are preserved on site.

BioPark Vale Amazonia plays an important role for the company's business, which is sustainable mining within the Carajás National Forest, based on conservation strategies, such as the Carajás Biodiversity Management Plan (PGBio), which unites research and the preparation of strategies that contribute to reconciling mining activities with conservation, using the knowledge generated to support the actions of operation, licensing, expansion and new projects by Vale in the region.

Service

BioPark Vale Amazonia is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 am to 4 pm. In order to access the Carajás National Forest, access must be granted at the ICMBio gate, in Parauapebas.