468 William F. Laurance
Figure 27.7 Optimistic (above) and
non-optimistic (below) scenarios for the
Brazilian Amazon, showin gpredicted
forest degradation by the year 2020
(black is deforested or heavily degraded,
includin gsavannas and other
non-forested areas; dark gray is
moderately degraded; white is lightly
degraded; and light gray is pristine) (after
Lauranceet al.2001b).new Amazonian protected areas and sustainable-
use forests (Laurance 2005b, Peres 2005).
Forexample,withanareaof nearly3.9millionha,
the recently designated Tumucumaque Moun-
tains National Park in northeastern Brazil is
the largest tropical forest reserve in the world
(Mitchell 2002).
The new conservation units in Brazilian
Amazonia vary in the kinds of resource uses
that are legally permitted (Rylands and Bran-
don 2005). Intensive uses includin gindustrial
logging are permitted in some reserves, such as
National Forests and Environmental Protection
Areas, whereas other units, such as National
Parks, nominally allow only limited uses that
include tourism and scientific research. Yet other
conservation units, such as Extractive Reserves,
permit intermediate activities such as hunting,
rubber tapping, and traditional swidden farming
(Laurance 2005).
Although less than 5% of the Brazilian Amazon
is currently in strict-protection reserves such as