Serra da Canastra National Park

Dangers

Despite its immense ecologic, geologic, historical, landscape and social-economic value, the Serra da Canastra National Park is nowadays consideres as being an extremely endangered protected area. Besides the usual problems which arise as a result of lack of human and financial resources, which makes the protection difficult, the Park suffers with poaching, natural and criminal fires, irregular mineral exploitation of quartzite and, mainly, with the non-regularization of the land tenure situation.

Presently the biggest threat for the Park is the pressure exerted by a mining company, a former-subsidiary of the multinational company De Beers and currently belonging in its majority to the Canadian company Brazilian Diamonds. This company has pressed the Brazilian Federal Government and politicians at all levels, to modify the National Park's boundaries, in order to remove vast and important areas where diamonds are likely to exist in the kimberlitic rock present in the subsoil.


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	Dangers Despite its immense ecologic, geologic, historical, landscape and social-economic value, the Serra da Canastra National Park is nowadays consideres as being an extremely endangered protected area. Besides the usual problems which arise as a result of lack of human and financial resources, which makes the protection difficult, the Park suffers with poaching, natural and criminal fires, irregular mineral exploitation of quartzite and, mainly, with the non-regularization of the land tenure situation. Presently the biggest threat for the Park is the pressure exerted by a mining company, a former-subsidiary of the multinational company De Beers and currently belonging in its majority to the Canadian company Brazilian Diamonds. This company has pressed the Brazilian Federal Government and politicians at all levels, to modify the National Park's boundaries, in order to remove vast and important areas where diamonds are likely to exist in the kimberlitic rock present in the subsoil.