From Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) website:

(19 Mar 2018) President of the Republic signed today a decree establishing the São Pedro and São Paulo archipelagos in Pernambuco, and the Trindade and Martim Vaz archipelago in Vitória (ES), in conservation units. 

The two most remote parts of the national territory - the São Pedro and São Paulo archipelagos in Pernambuco, and the Trindade and Martim Vaz archipelago in Vitória (ES) - are the new federal marine conservation units. The President of the Republic, Michel Temer, today signed (19) the decree that creates these units, managed by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation. "The year 2018 can already be considered historic for ICMBio with the creation of these four units today. To protect these marine areas is to conserve nature, species and also to order the use of these areas," says ICMBio president Ricardo Soavinski. 

There will be two APAs that will each have 40 million hectares (ha). The Natural Monument of Trindade and Martin Vaz will add 6 million hectares and that of São Pedro and São Paulo, 4 million hectares. Together with the areas, they reach 92,584,798.96 hectares, larger than the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais together. Of this total, 80,942,944.86 hectares are of the sustainable use group and 11,641,854.10 hectares of use of integral protection. As a result, Brazil will move from 1.5% of marine protected areas to 25%, an advance that will allow the country to comply with Aichi's Goal 11, which provides for the protection of 17% of the marine and coastal areas of each country until 2020. With the protection of these archipelagos, all the Brazilian oceanic islands, which also include the islands of Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas, are now protected by conservation units. 

The two archipelagos are rich in biodiversity and play a strategic role in delimiting and protecting the Brazilian territorial sea and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). By the proposal approved at a public hearing, the islands will each be protected by an APA covering a larger area, and a Mona within it, limited basically to the rocky areas. In the APAs, economic activities, such as fishing, will be allowed in a sustainable way. The Monas area is fully protected. The initiative is a shared action between the Ministries of Environment and Defense, with the direct participation of the Navy, which maintains a scientific station in São Pedro and São Paulo and an oceanographic station in Trindade, among other activities. 

São Pedro and São Paulo Paulo, located in Pernambuco, is the smallest and most isolated tropical archipelago on the planet. It is located 1,010 kilometers off the coast of Northeast Brazil and 1,890 kilometers off the west coast of Senegal, Africa, in the middle of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. It is formed by small rocky islands that have emerged with the uplift of the underwater floor mantle, a unique geological formation in the world. 

Due to its geographic isolation, it has a high concentration of endemic species (only existing in the area) and threatened with extinction. The unique features of the area have attracted the attention of scientists since the 19th century, including works by Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle in 1832. 

APA São Pedro and São Paulo, according to the proposal approved at public hearings, should cover the marine zone within a radius of 200 nautical miles (40 million hectares) around the archipelago, corresponding to the EEZ, excluding the area delimited by the Mona. It would have among other objectives the conservation of marine environments, seamounts and their species of fauna, flora and micro-organisms, especially endemic species, and ensure sovereign rights for the purposes of exploration and management of natural resources and exploitation of the EEZ . 

The Natural Monument of the Archipelago of São Pedro and São Paulo would have, among other functions, the preservation of the rare natural site, composed of a unique geological formation in the world, the fishing resources, the waters and submerged regions, the integrity of the habitats and populations of endangered and endemic species, promoting the resilience and resilience of marine ecosystems to cope with future scenarios of climate change. 

Trinity and Martim Vaz

The archipelago of Trindade and Martim Vaz is situated one thousand kilometers off the coast of Vitória (ES). The Vitória-Trindade chain represents a unique formation on the planet, made up of a mountain range of submarine mountains that connects the central coast of Brazil to the Trindade Island and the Martim Vaz archipelago. It has about 30 underwater mounts, with at least 10 being between 30 and 150 meters deep, serving as real refuges for marine biodiversity. The oceanic islands, located at the eastern end of the mountain range, harbor the highest diversity of calcareous algae in the world, the greatest richness of reef and endemic species on all Brazilian islands, and one of the highest rates of fish and sharks in the South Atlantic. the endemic species, are the yellow crab, the trinity sparrow, a subspecies of frigate and giant fern forests of more than five meters. 

The region of the Vitória-Trindade mountain range is nationally and internationally recognized as a hot spot (a high priority area for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity).The mountain range was also identified by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as a biologically significant marine area designated by the Brazilian government during the UN Ocean Conference / ODS 14 in June 2017 as a priority area for the protection of the oceans and breeding of marine protected areas. 

The APA of Trindade and Martim Vaz will be composed of two areas. One in a radius of 200 nautical miles around the archipelago, corresponding to the EEZ, excluding the area delimited by the Natural Monument of the Archipelago of Trindade and Martim Vaz, and another in front of the oceanographic station, inside the Mona. The APA will have the objectives of assuring the sovereign rights for exploration and exploitation, conservation and management of natural resources, guaranteeing the sustainable use of the exclusive economic zone for economic purposes, besides ordering the fishing, navigation, tourism and other compatible economic activities with environmental conservation that present themselves as strategic to the region. 

The Mona de Trindade and Martim Vaz aims to preserve rare natural sites, consisting of seamounts and islands of the Vitória-Trindade chain, guarantee the integrity of habitats and populations threatened with extinction, promote the constant implementation of research and monitoring of biodiversity in the region and contribute, through the mosaic of conservation units and their zoning, to the recovery of fish stocks.

The PAs will be administered in a shared way between the Navy, which will be responsible for administrative actions, and ICMBio, which will take care of environmental management. The creation of units will not cause any interference in national defense activities carried out throughout the territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone, including the carrying out of military exercises and research to ensure the training, readiness and mobility of the Brazilian Armed Forces. 

The PAs are part of the Blue Brazil Initiative proposal, partnership strategy and project development to strengthen the capacity to implement and manage existing and new coastal and marine protected areas. Good protection of marine and coastal ecosystems, particularly through protected areas and local communities, is critical to achieving global objectives and national commitments, such as the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (particularly Goal 14), the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (particularly adaptation, but also mitigation), the Convention on Biological Diversity, including the Aichi 2020 Objectives (particularly targets 11, 12 and others), the recognition of rights and the support of local and traditional communities. 

Know the decrees published on Tuesday (20 Mar 2018) in the Official Gazette of the Union. 

Decree establishing the Environmental Protection Area of ​​the São Pedro and São Paulo Archipelago and the Natural Monument of the São Pedro and São Paulo Archipelago. 

Decree creating the Environmental Protection Area of ​​the Trindade and Martim Vaz Archipelago and the Natural Monument of the Trindade and Martim Vaz Islands and Mount Columbia.