MONTE ALEGRE, Brazil — Despite its name, all is not well in Monte Alegre, or “Happy Mountain.” Situated on the north bank of the Amazon River, some 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) from Santarém, a town with some 50,000 inhabitants, Monte Alegre guards one of Brazil’s best-kept secrets. Founded as a conservation area in 2001, the Monte Alegre State Park (PEMA in Portuguese), protects a forested complex of canyons, valleys and caves, home to some 600 prehistoric rock paintings dating back some 11,000 years. Measuring 3,678 hectares (9,090 acres), PETA’s cultural value and natural beauty would be a top attraction anywhere in the world. In 2002, it was chosen as one of 25 global heritage sites by World Monuments Watch (WMW), a flagship advocacy program of the nonprofit World Monuments Fund. Yet, the park struggles to attract visitors. “It’s one of our biggest challenges,” said PETA’s general manager Jorge Braga. “We have some 4,000 visitors annually. That’s not a lot.” Sitting at the Monte Alegre main square, Braga blamed a combination of visibility and accessibility. He estimated that only one in ten people living in the region knew about the park’s value. Among Brazilians living elsewhere and foreign visitors, the ratio will be way lower. It’s hardly the only problem the park is facing. While PETA offers the highest possible level of environmental protection, the surrounding area is increasingly falling prey to deforestation. Pará state in northern Brazil long had one of the highest deforestation ratios in the country, yet until…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via this RSS feed