February 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 39

Americas. The Maryland/Rio chapter of Partners of the Americas is one
of the longest-standing cooperative
partnerships in a program that is similar to the Sister Cities program.
The Brazilians were extremely interested in building the kinds of natural parks that we were operating on
the Patuxent River in Maryland. They
invited me to Brazil to work with
them, and I learned so much as well
as helped them. Over the years, it has
been a rich and rewarding relationship. I have traveled to Brazil several
times to visit their parks, and I have
helped to host a number of visitors
from Brazilian universities, government agencies and nonprofit organizations, and worked with a university
student-exchange program as well.
I returned to Brazil last month to
help celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the Maryland/Rio partnership and
also to participate in the signing of
a historic cooperation agreement between the States of Rio and Maryland
for the protection of Guanabara Bay,
a large estuary that encompasses the
city of Rio and is very similar to the
Chesapeake Bay. While I was there, I
had the opportunity to revisit a number of parks in Niteroi, a city directly
across Guanabara Bay from the city
of Rio. Niteroi had just introduced a
new plan to establish an extensive reserve of natural parks and protected
lands, so I was able to talk with park
planners and government officials
about their plan, and I attended a public meeting for its presentation.
Niteroi, a city of 500,000 and the
historic capital of the State of Rio,
has grown rapidly in the past century
from a sleepy fishing town to a busy
metropolitan center with an emerging middle class and substantial economic development. As one of Brazil's ten largest cities, Niteroi is trying

to shape itself into a livable, sustainable community that capitalizes on
its rich culture, natural heritage and
economic vitality.
The challenges are immense, particularly in terms of infrastructure.
Sanitation is one of the greatest
needs and one that most directly affects both public and environmental
health in urban metropolitan areas.
In addition, government functions
such as transportation, affordable
housing and planning are being tested as Brazil moves into the 21st century. Sr. Ney Maranhao, secretary
of water resources and urban environment of the Brazilian Ministry
of Environment, said to me, " The
biggest urban challenges Brazil faces today are from a lack of adequate
housing. "
Niteroi's plan to create a connected network of natural lands
and parks proceeds from a national
law passed in 2000 that allowed for
creation of a National System of
Conservation Units (SNUC). This
law enabled classification of two
broad types of public conservation

lands: lands that require full protection, which they call " integral protection, " and lands for sustainable
use. Within the integral protection
category are subcategories including
national parks, biological reserves
and wildlife refuges. Within the
sustainable development category
are environmental protection areas,
extractive reserves and sustainable
development reserves. State and local conservation plans follow the national model with some variations.
While much of the lowlands in and
around Niteroi is developed, most
of the steep slopes, hills and small
mountains remain undeveloped. In
fact, these areas contain the remnants
of the Mata Atlantica, the Atlantic
rainforest, an ecosystem thought to
be more ecologically diverse than
the Amazonian rainforest. However, less than seven percent of the Atlantic rainforest remains intact, and
most of that is located on hillsides
and mountaintops in bio-geographical islands. To give an idea of just
how biologically rich this area is, the
Golden Lion Tamarin monkey, an

The spectacular view of Guanabara Bay
and the city of Rio de Janeiro from the
hang-gliding pad at City Park in Niteroi is
acknowledged as one of the most scenic
views in Brazil.

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February 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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