Despite its large size, species richness and habitat diversity there are many gaps in knowledge of flora, fauna and ecological processes in the Legal Amazon, making its long-term conservation a great challenge. The objective of this work was to evaluate the current representativeness of protected areas (full protection and sustainable use) in the Legal Amazon using a biogeographical approach. The data used were obtained through digital cartographic data and the processing was done in Arcview 3.3 There are currently 621 protected areas in the Legal Amazon, occupying 196.6 million hectares, representing 39.2% of the total area. The proportion of area varies between categories, being 7.5% in Full Protection, 10.8% in Sustainable Use and 20.9% in Indigenous Lands. Of the 51 ecoregions that occur in Brazil, 29 occur in the Legal Amazon. The percentage of area occupied by ecoregion varies from 0,11 % (Pantepui) to 14,7% (Cerrado). Only two ecoregions, Cerrado and the Madeira-Tapajós Interfluve, occupy more than 10% of the Legal Amazon; 22 ecoregions (76% of the total) represent each less than 5% of the total Legal Amazon. The proportion of protected areas (full protection and sustainable use) and indigenous lands was significantly different among the ecoregions of the Legal Amazon. However, in general, most ecoregions are well represented in the current system of protected areas in the Legal Amazon.
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