When people think of Brazil’s Amazon region, the image that typically comes to mind is a vast expanse of dense rainforest traversed by mighty rivers. Often ignored are the mangroves that occupy the region’s northeastern edge. Hugging the Atlantic coast of Maranhão, Pará, and Amapá states, they form the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest—a rich source of biodiversity and an important contributor to carbon sequestration. Brazil last year took a significant step to improve mangrove-ecosystem protection by creating two new conservation units on the Pará coast. Designated by presidential decrees after 16 years of advocacy and coordination by local residents, they mark a critical milestone in preserving this unique and vulnerable environment. The newly established Viriandeua and Filhos do Mangue reserves, located about 120 miles (200 kms) from Belém, where the UN’s international climate conference (COP30) will be held this year, expand a corridor of protected coastal forests... [Log in to read more]