High officials say their goal is to prevent deforestation in these areas

Sep 12, 2013 01:26 GMT  ·  By

High officials in Brazil have established two new protected areas in the Amazon. Together, the new parks cover a surface of about 952,000 hectares.

They are called Parauarí and Urupadí, and extend over 472,000 hectares and 480,000 hectares, respectively.

Both of them lie in the western regions of the state of Amazonas, in the municipality of Maués, Mongabay tells us.

The officials who decided to turn these patches of land into protected areas say that their goal was to prevent deforestation in the region and therefore protect local biodiversity.

Thus, despite the fact that they are located quite far from any of the country's major roads, these biodiversity hotspots were still vulnerable to encroachment and deforestation.

Now that they benefit from legal protection, appropriate measures can be taken against those who destroy them.

The same source tells us that, for the time being, about 2.2 million square kilometers (850,000 sq miles) of the Brazilian Amazon have come to benefit from some form of legal protection.

This indicates that the country is indeed ready and willing to curb deforestation.