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📅 25 years of conservation, at risk?
Brazil's national conservation system has turned 25 years old, but it is under threat from persistent political pressures and the ongoing climate emergency.
Euan Marshall
July 24, 2025
BIODIVERSITY
Growth, challenges and hope as Brazil’s conservation system turns 25
The Tijuca National Park is one of the oldest protected forests in the world, with protections predating Yellowstone National Park. Photo: Vitor Marigo/Shutterstock
Last week, Brazilian federal and state-level officials gathered at the Tijuca National Park in Rio de Janeiro for a day of lectures and debates in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Brazil’s National System of Conservation Units, or SNUC.
The choice of venue was intentional. Not only is the Tijuca National Park the country’s most popular, home to the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue, the park is also a global pioneer in biodiversity conservation.
After having its vegetation decimated in the 19th century for sugar plantations and timber, Dom Pedro II ordered Tijuca to be reforested with some 100,000 saplings of native tree species, giving it “protected forest” status in 1862. Now, it is a lush area of almost 4,000 hectares of green, spread across the southwestern portion of Rio de Janeiro. Its protected status predates that of Yellowstone National Park in the US.
Much changed between 1862 and the creation of the SNUC in 2000. The first Forest Code of 1934 defined Brazil’s native forests and established new national parks in Iguaçu, Serra dos Órgãos and Itatiaia. The SNUC helped structure, categorize and regulate different types of conservation units…
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