Sociobiodiverse Cultural Basin of the Chapada do Araripe

Description

The Chapada do Araripe is located between the parallels of 7 and 8° South Latitude and the meridians of 39° and 41° West Longitude of Greenwich. It is a central plateau that forms a territory comprising three Brazilian states in the northeast of the country: Ceará, Pernambuco and Piauí. Due to its geomorphology, it acts as a watershed between the hydrographic basins of the Jaguaribe River to the north, the São Francisco River to the south and the Parnaíba River to the west. This element of the landscape covers an area approximately 180 km long (in an east-west direction) and varies in width between 30 and 50 km, comprising the extreme south of Ceará, the northwest of the state of Pernambuco and the east of the state of Piauí. In general, the top of the plateau lies between the altitudes of 850 and 1,000 m.

Preliminary studies to prepare information about the property proposed to be included in the Brazilian UNESCO World Heritage List – of Sociobiodiverse Cultural Basin of the Chapada do Araripe: Heritage Provide Humanity, began in 2019, with the holding of the 1st International Seminar to discuss the candidacy proposal, and from 2020, on the initiative of the Government of Ceará - Secretariat of Culture (SECULT), Ceará Research Support Foundation - FUNCAP, Fundação Casa Grande, and Universidade Regional do Cariri - URCA, mapped the territory of Chapada do Araripe and identified a set of natural and cultural assets with potential exceptional universal values that would justify the inclusion of the property on the World Heritage List. These studies highlighted the need for expansion and deepening, especially in the States of Pernambuco and Piauí, and the areas incorporated into this proposal.

The application proposal selected for this proposal brings the typology of a mixed property of unique nature and culture, called Sociobiodiverse Cultural Basin of the Chapada do Araripe: Heritage Provide Humanity, the area delimited by Chapada do Araripe, a natural asset protected as a Brazilian Environmental Conservation Unit, represents the testimony of the past occupations of the territory by the traditional indigenous populations of the Cariri, by the European colonizers who arrived here, and by the Africans brought to Brazil as slaves, all these layers of human occupation from different groups and temporalities shape the socio-cultural richness of this territory, where they found the ideal environment to survive and produce their culture. The area of influence of Chapada do Araripe is more comprehensive than the plateau that unites the States of CE, PE and PI, constituting a unique, integral and authentic cultural landscape. From a geological point of view, Chapada do Araripe is part of the Araripe sedimentary basin, whose formation dates back to the Precambrian, and holds unique testimonies of the geological conformation of the land.

The Buffer Zone of the proposed mixed property, therefore, corresponds to the sum of the areas of the environmental conservation units: Environmental Protection Area - APA of Chapada do Araripe, the National Forest (FLONA) and the Araripe Mundial Geopark, recognized by UNESCO. The territory of Chapada do Araripe proposed for World Heritage includes the Environmental Protection Area Municipalities - APA: under the terms do Decreto publicado em 04.08.2017, parte dos Municípios de Abaiara (CE), Araripe (CE), Barbalha (CE), Brejo Santo (CE), Campos Sales (CE), Crato (CE), Jardim (CE), Jati (CE), Missão Velha (CE), Nova Olinda (CE), Penaforte (CE), Porteiras (CE), Potengi (CE), Salitre (CE), Santana do Cariri (CE), Araripina (PE), Bodocó (PE), Cedro (PE), Exu (PE), Ipubi (PE), Serrita (PE), Moreilândia (PE), Trindade (PE), Fronteiras (PI), Padre Marcos (PI), São Julião (PI), Simões (PI), Caldeirão Grande do Piauí (PI), Alegrete do Piauí (PI), Marcolândia (PI), Caridade do Piauí (PI), Curral Novo do Piauí (PI), Francisco Macedo (PI). Juazeiro do Norte (CE). Do GEOPARK ARARIPE MUNDIAL DA UNESCO: Missão Velha, Barbalha, Juazeiro do Norte, Crato, Nova Olinda, Santana do Cariri. Da FLONA: nos termos do Decreto-Lei No 9.226 de 02/05/1946, Barbalha (CE), Crato (CE), Jardim (CE), Missão Velha (CE), Nova Olinda (CE), Santana do Cariri (CE).

The purpose of the delimited buffer zone is to make the transition with the area of recognition and expressive values that justify the OUV, containing maximum protection, in front of the area where there is no protection element established.

The sets of assets that make up the core zone of the application are presented in components, which extend over the municipalities of: Bodocó-PE, Crato-CE, Barbalha-CE, Missão Velha- CE, Juazeiro do Norte-CE, Nova Olinda-CE, Santana do Cariri- CE, Assaré-CE, Campos Sales-CE, Jardim-CE, Caririaçu-CE. These are the Araripe National Forest (FLONA, 1946) and the UNESCO Araripe World Geopark Set of Protected Conservation Units and Cultural Sites (the first geopark on the American continent, created in 2006). And the components to be inventoried in the territory of the Buffer Zone in the territories of PE and PI, in the next stage of the studies for the candidacy of the Sociobiodiverse Cultural Basin of the Chapada do Araripe: Heritage Provide Humanity, which is why we have indicated the territorial portion of the Chapada do Araripe Environmental Protection Area, (APA, 1997).

The proposed component areas should be added to other components of Sociobiodiverse Cultural Basin of the Chapada do Araripe. The components of the central zone, indicated on this occasion, are protected as conservation units under the terms of Law 9.985/2000 at the federal level and the related complementary regulations at the state level, the set of Conservation Units and the Cultural System composed of Protected Cultural Sites in the territory of the UNESCO World Geopark Araripe, a member of the UNESCO International Geoparks Program, the spaces for cultural protection and management, as follows: the architectural ensemble in the historic city of Barbalha (CE), a property associated with the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Brazil (IPHAN) and Ceará (COPAN-SECULT) - Festa do Pau da Bandeira de Santo Antônio, in Barbalha, the archaeological site of Pedra do Convento (Campos Sales - CE), the archaeological and mythological site of Santa Fé rock art (Crato - CE), and the archaeological and mythological site of Pedra de Claranã (Bodocó- PE), both registered with IPHAN.

We describe the main relevant areas below:

Environmental Protection Area of Chapada do Araripe - Chapada do Araripe APA

Created in 1997, Chapada do Araripe Environmental Protection Area - APA* - CHAPADA DO ARARIPE, with an area of 972.605.18 hectares, in the Caatinga biome, is the result of a set of institutional efforts for the protection and sustainable promotion of the territory, cities, nature and culture of the municipalities directly influenced by the natural and cultural resources of Chapada do Araripe. Located in the states of CE, PE and PI, it involves 38 municipalities, in Ceará: Missão Velha, Abaiara, Brejo Santo, Porteira, Jardim, Jati, Pena Forte, Barbalha, Crato, Nova Olinda, Santana do Cariri, Araripe, Potengi, Campos Sales, Salitre. In Pernambuco: Araripina, Trindade, Ouricuri, Ipubi, Exu, Santa Cruz, Bodocó, Cedro, Moreilândia, Granito, Serrita and in Piauí: Fronteira, Padre Marcos, Simões, Paulistana, Pio IX, Caldeirão Grande, Curral Novo, in the state of Piauí.

The objectives of its creation are described in the Decree published on August 4, 1997, a year after it was signed at a public event in Cariri, Ceará. These are:

• Protect fauna and flora, especially endangered species;

• Guarantee the conservation of remnants of alluvial forest, natural rainwater beds and water reserves;

• To guarantee the protection of the scenic, archaeological and paleontological sites of the Lower Cretaceous, of the Araripe Complex;

• Organize ecological, scientific and cultural tourism and other economic activities that are compatible with environmental conservation;

• Encourage cultural manifestations and contribute to the rescue of regional cultural diversity;
• Ensure the sustainability of natural resources, with an emphasis on improving the quality of life of the populations living in and around the APA*.

Chapada do Araripe APA is based in the municipality of Crato and is managed by ICMBIO. The Management Council is functioning regularly and the PA's Management Plan is in the collective construction phase within the regional community and the Advisory Council.

The location of the area has the particularity of being delimited on the basis of the 1:100,000 scale topographical maps of the Superintendence for the Development of the Northeast- SUDENE and the Directorate of the Geographical Service of the Army- DSG, Meridian 39º W.Gr, Jardim leaves - SB.24-Y- D-VI, São José do Belmonte - SB.24-Z-C-IV; Bodocó - SB.24-Y-D-V; Ouricuri - SB.24-Y-D-IV; Simões - SB.24-Y-C-Vl; Fronteiras - SB.24-Y-C-III; Campos Sales - SB.24-Y-D-I; Santana do Cariri - SB.24-Y-D- II; Crato - SB.24-Y-D-III; Milagres - SB.24-Z-C-I, and on the 1:250.000 scale radar image maps from DSG, sheets Picos SB-24-Y-C and Juazeiro do Norte - SB-24-Y-D, with the following memorial described: it begins at the intersection of the 500 m contour line with the Piauí/Ceará interstate boundary, with UTM coordinates N= 9212700, E=326550, and geographic coordinates 7º07'07" south latitude and 40º34'10" west longitude; from this point, it follows this 500 m contour line, in a general east/southeast direction, covering a distance of 1,265.220 m, to the intersection with the Pernambuco state boundary, point 01, UTM coordinates N=9143050, E=487500, and geographic 7º45'08" south latitude and 39º06'49" west longitude; from this point, follow this interstate boundary in a south-easterly direction, covering a distance of 27.000 m, until the intersection with the 640 m contour line, located on the left bank of the carriageway that runs to the village of Ori, point 02, UTM coordinates N=9151200, E=468600, and geographic coordinates 7º40'42" south latitude and 39º17'04" west longitude; from this point, continue along this 640 m contour line, in a general northwest/east direction, covering a distance of 808.330m, to the intersection with the Piauí state boundary, bridge 03, UTM coordinates N=9137300, E=324650, and geographic 7º48'06" south latitude and 40º35'23" west longitude, from this point, continue along this interstate boundary in a general southeast direction, covering a distance of 7.000 m, to the junction with the Baixo stream, point 04, UTM coordinates N=9133250, E=330050, and geographic coordinates 7º50'20" south latitude and 40º32'28" west longitude; from this point, continue downstream along the larger channel of the Baixio stream, covering a distance of 3.000 m, to the intersection with the 480 m contour line, in the state of Piauí, UTM coordinates N=9133000, E=327050, and geographic coordinates 7º50'28" south latitude and 40º34'06" west longitude; from this point, follow this contour line in a general northwest/east direction, covering a distance of 548.000 m, to the boundary with the State of Ceará and following this interstate boundary in a south- westerly direction, to the intersection with the 500 m contour line, point 00, the beginning of this description, totaling an approximate area of 1,063,000 ha and a perimeter of 2,658,555 m. The area of the Araripe National Forest is excluded from the delimited area of the APA* (the APA* is a buffer area for the FLONA, according to the FLONA-Araripe management plan). Also excluded from the Chapada do Araripe APA* area are the urban areas of the municipalities that make it up.

Within the Chapada do Araripe APA*, under the terms of the creation decree, Art. 6, the following activities are prohibited or restricted: the implementation of potentially polluting industrial activities that damage the environment and affect water sources; the carrying out of earthworks and the opening of canals, when these initiatives involve altering local ecological conditions, especially in wildlife areas; the carrying out of activities capable of causing accelerated erosion, the silting up of water collections or the compromising of aquifers; activities involving the killing, capture or harassment of rare species of the regional biota; and the dumping of effluents, waste or debris into the watercourses covered by the APA*, which may cause damage to the environment;

The documents relating to Chapada do Araripe APA* can be accessed on the ICMBIO database.

The normative acts creating the UC are also available on the ICMBIO website.

Forest Araripe National

Originating in the Precambrian period, when the reactivation of ancient emerged lineaments that gave rise to inland basins, the sedimentation of the Araripe Basin began in the freshwater environment, evolving when the sea invaded the region, forming layers of gypsum and associated rocks. This past connection with the sea, witnessed by fossil fish characteristic of a marine environment, was temporarily interrupted and the reduction in salinity led to the development of particular non-marine faunas. This "freshwater inland sea" is responsible for the patch of evergreen vegetation in a "sea of caatinga" that gives Chapada do Araripe an important distinction in the northeastern landscape, characterized by dense deciduous forests and even, in the most protected areas, by the Araripe National Forest - FLONA ARARIPE. Created by the Federal Government of Brazil by Decree-Law No. 9.226 of 02.05.1946, the FLONA-ARARIPE/APODI is characterized by dense, humid forest in the Caatinga Biome, comparable to the Atlantic Forest.

The total area comprises 38,919.47 hectares. NAME OF UNIT: Araripe-Apodi National Forest. Regulated under the terms of Law 9.985/2000, FLONA-ARARIPE has a management structure in place, the management council is up and running, and since 2012 the Management Plan has been guiding the Unit's actions, in line with the UC's creation objectives. The FLONA was created jointly, two tracts of land being ARARIPE and APODI. The area delimited in this project corresponds only to the Araripe gleba, located in the Cariri region of Ceará. The vegetation cover of FLONA-ARARIPE is as follows: Semi-Perennial Humid Forest ; Humid Forest/Cerrado Transition; Carrasco; Cerradão; Hygrophilous Vegetation; Scleromorphous Vegetation; Subxerophilous Vegetation.

Conservation units and protected cultural sites of the UNESCO World Geopark Araripe

It is in this specific natural composition of Chapada do Araripe environmental complex, represented by the Chapada do Araripe APA* and the FLONA ARARIPE, where the Geosites stand out as testimonies, Conservation Units and Protected Cultural Sites UNESCO World Geopark Araripe. 

The UNESCO World Geopark Araripe, created in 2005 under the coordination of the Regional University of Cariri - URCA and the Government of Ceará, joined the Global Geoparks Network (UNESCO Global Geoparks) in 2006. Until 2015, the world's geoparks operated under the auspices of UNESCO. In 2015 it officially joined the program created especially for these territories, the UNESCO Global Geoparks Program. The project has the support of the State Government of Ceará and the Federal Government of Brazil.

Because of the rare geological sites that preserve the memory of the Earth and the original populations of Cariri in an exceptional way, capable of supporting local populations in the process of sustainable development based on botton up strategies. The rare paleontological sites, well preserved and in quantities unique in the world, from the Cretaceous period, highlight the sites of interest or geosites of the Araripe Geopark, especially aimed at geotourism, environmental education and sustainable development. Below is a list of some of the properties inventoried in this territory that bring with them authenticity and integrity, in order to highlight their exceptional universal value, suitable for supporting the request for inclusion on Brazil's indicative list to join the select list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

This unique territory of environmental, historical and cultural value, composed of archaeological, mythological, paleontological sites, and expressions of culture and popular art, has been built up as an evolving landscape over time and remains alive today.

Since prehistoric times, a culture has evolved, which, having stood the test of time, has reached the present day preserved and formalized in multiple evidences, paleontological, archaeological, natural, historical, symbolic and cultural, represented in a unique cultural landscape permeated by a set of traditions and collective festivities, associated with the life of the Cariri man integrated with the natural diversity of the Chapada do Araripe, characterizing itself as a mixed asset of nature and culture. Manifestations of this thriving culture, denoting the integrity and authenticity of this heritage, occur throughout the year and throughout the territory, which present themselves as the most solid and perfect symbiosis of man's life with nature, in a composite harmony that time has sculpted and man has preserved. Man’s way of life related to the natural environment of the caatinga territory, in the Brazilian semi-arid region.

The great nation of the Kariri or Cariri, indigenous peoples who have settled in the Chapada do Araripe region since prehistoric times, are the initial protagonists of this culture, basing their modeling and determining characteristics on myth and its energy. The myth, a creative entity that evolves in a sequence of religious conceptions and cosmological images that are molded and articulated together in a "system" that can be called the "World System" of traditional societies, in which man and nature are intertwined.

This mythological reference has remained constant over time, taking on a particular trend from the 18th century onwards, when foreign settlers arrived in the region, and in the 19th and 20th centuries, when socio-religious movements of a messianic and resistance nature broke out, triggering the development of an imaginary made up of cultural series that, when combined, comprised a profound addition of novelty to the prehistoric cultural stratum. The various studies and tourist routes to mythological and archaeological sites, as we can see in this mythological map hand-drawn by children from the Casa Grande Foundation and available at the Cariri Man Memorial in Nova Olinda.

Religious manifestations throughout the process of occupation of the Cariri territory have remained alive and have had a decisive impact on life and the regional economy, for example: Padre Cícero's pilgrimages (FIG 19) in Juazeiro do Norte, the pilgrimages to Mártir Benigna in Santana do Cariri, and the celebrations and procession of Santo Antônio's pau-da-bandeira in Barbalha, which has already been recognized as intangible cultural heritage in Ceará by COEPA-SECULT and in Brazil by IPHAN.

The pilgrimages to Juazeiro do Norte stem from the miracle of the wafer. The pilgrimages to Juazeiro do Norte have generated development that makes Juazeiro the largest city in the interior of Ceará, and there are other pilgrimages throughout the year. In January, there are quite a few pilgrims on the 6th (King's Day) and the 20th (Saint Sebastian's Day). On February 2nd, Our Lady of Candeias - to whom Padre Cícero was devoted - receives an intense pilgrimage. And on March 24, during the celebrations that commemorate the birth of Padre Cícero, many pilgrims come to Juazeiro to pay homage to their beloved godfather. A territory of charms, but vast and complex. To present this component, the Conservation Units and Protected Cultural Sites of the UNESCO World Geopark Araripe will be presented individually in this form. Other sites and PAs will be presented with the application dossier.

The units in this component are listed below. With some preliminary considerations, the natural monuments of the Araripe Geopark, created in 2006, have not been regulated for management yet by the environmental agency of the State of Ceará / UNESCO World Geopark Araripe. And the PAs created in the last five years and the municipal PAs still don't have their management structure organized and their management plan built. In other cases, management is still insufficient for the best uses and protection practices recommended by the National System of Conservation Units.

Horto do Padre Cícero APA

In 2022, Horto do Padre Cícero, which has been part of the Araripe Geopark geosites since 2005, became part of the state's system of Conservation Units as the Colina do Horto do Padre Cícero Environmental Protection Area. According to State Decree 34.608, of 29.03.2022, amended by Law 18.267, of 15.12.2022, which expanded the area of the Padre Cícero Horto APA* to 1,374.44 ha (one thousand three hundred and seventy-four hectares and forty- four ares).

The management of the UC is currently being implemented. The APA*'s objectives are: the conservation of fauna and flora, especially endemic, rare or endangered species; the ordering of use and occupation processes in line with the guidelines of the Master Plan; the protection of ecosystems and ecosystem services; the conservation of surface and underground water resources in line with the Salgado River Sub-Basin Plan; the sustainable management of natural resources, based on the creative economy; the promotion of sustainable tourism and the recovery of degraded areas.

Other relevant natural components of the area include Sítio Fundão State Park and Caldeirão da Santa Cruz do Deserto State Park

Living Heritage

Land of poets, writers, singers and other men of the arts and culture, of national and international dimension and projection, Cariri finds in them the fabric of the recognition of a territory, a history and a culture of singular elements, across borders.

But they are the storytellers, the string poets, singers, violeiros, emboladores, repentistas, masters of brotherhoods, reisado players, fife and drone players, pray-ers and soothsayers, pilgrims of all shades, singers, blind people, rabequeiros and accordion players, highlighting figures such as Lampião, Maria Bonita, Patativa do Assaré, Luiz Gonzaga, Antônio Conselheiro, Padre Cícero, Padre Ibiapina, Cego Aderaldo, José Lourenço, Bárbara de Alencar, Beata Mocinha; Beata Maria de Araújo and so many others from the recent past, whose stories are mixed with those of others and, by irradiation, with that of the region, who guarantee the continuity and strengthening of the cultural heritage of the landscape and who ensure the exceptional value of this heritage asset, through authentic transmission and subsequent appropriation in its entirety, represented today by the masters of the culture of Ceará, in Cariri and other living treasures.

The stories of their lives are the current subject of titles and pages of academic works, consultable in many libraries around the world and countless other less formal works, in various media such as audiovisual and photographic. But it is in the cordel, as peer-to-peer literature, that the sounds and colors of these lives, whose paths point to the culture of myths and enchantment, installed in this culture since time immemorial, are most strongly vocalized.

The Masters of Popular Culture, today recognized by the State of Ceará as living cultural treasures (Law No. 13.351, of August 27, 2003 and Law No. 13.842, of November 27, 2006), for being the interpreters, spokespeople and guardians of this unique cultural landscape, of exceptional value and which, in its present context, they strive to keep alive and cohesive.

Justification of Outstanding Universal Value

Chapada do Araripe is a geo-environmental context that is the setting for an eminent exceptional material and immaterial cultural heritage that expresses a unique and unrepeatable process of a socio-cultural collective that, based on the essence and original cultural matrices, has been able to incorporate the new and recreate itself over the centuries.

Inscribed in a geological context where one of the world's greatest paleontological treasures is kept and a unique chapter in the history of the earth is written, it integrates a set of elements that find their origin in the processes of contact between the native peoples who have inhabited the region since prehistoric times, particularly the Kariri, with white settlers, slave communities, socio-religious and resistance movements and community and mystical experiences, including a particular form of culture that is truly popular and bears witness to important moments in the history of the formation of the identity of northeastern Brazil and Brazil.

This organic and exceptional Mixed Asset owes its contemporary character as much to geomorphology and geography as to the genius of human interventions and, fundamentally, to the capacity of communities to create and root cultural and religious manifestations in which past and present converge in harmony.

Chapada do Araripe is a unique example of the articulation of sacred practices with pagan elements, orality, the involvement of children and young people and their promotion and empowerment through popular culture. It is an exemplary territory of active cultural structures and protagonists, both in terms of the number of participants and the activities of recording and disseminating and celebrating cultural traditions, creating sustainability and territorial cohesion based on heritage and cultural elements.

The people and ethnic groups of Chapada do Araripe form a melting pot of cultures that feeds and drains through its veins to the whole of the Cariri valley in Ceará, and the Araripe hinterland in Pernambuco and Piauí, consisting of the cultural landscape of Chapada do Araripe where this enchanted territory has reinforced expression. This cultural geography of moving cultures is an original and exceptional testimony to the importance of popular culture, of orality as the primary vehicle for the transmission of knowledge, of the relevance of elders and popular beliefs, and as an exemplary testimony to the preservation and integral transmission of cultural heritage and the importance of cultural hybridization for the cohesion of community feeling and solidarity.

The hybrid cultural legacy of the people of Chapada do Araripe bears witness to their ability to keep culture alive, dynamic and participatory, through a plurality of manifestations, characterized by great thematic creativity and colourful expressions, where the times and the protagonists of the region's history are mixed in a permanent reinterpretation.

Rich in lessons about the history of man's relationship with his environment and about the processes of cultural hybridization that various protagonists of different origins and at different times have established in shaping their lives in this oasis in the middle of the sertão, Chapada do Araripe is a unique representative element of an environment and of a formidable relationship between the things of the earth's history and the stories of humanity's life; it is an integral memory of the earth in its eco- human dimension.

Criterion (iii): A Landscape emblematic of ancestral traditions related to a Native Cariri, with the peoples of Chapada do Araripe, which include the founding myths of the indigenous Kariri/Cariri, mixed with the legacies of a colonial occupation of European and African origin, Chapada do Araripe represents in an exceptional way the cultural elements that mark the Cariri Nation, created in a unique process of integration of influences and invention of cultural manifestations of a markedly popular nature that manifest themselves through a rich grammar of representations, of profound originality, almost all associated with natural beauty, sacred and profane elements, myths and heroes, which mark man's close relationship with nature, from time immemorial to the present day.

A cultural complex of excellence, deeply preserved, Chapada do Araripe, an oasis in the middle of the Sertão, admirably preserves alive and thriving the outstanding testimonies of a heritage of geological, historical, ethnic, landscape, artistic, archaeological, paleontological, ecological and scientific value.

A unique witness to the articulation of sacred practices with pagan elements, the preservation of orality, the involvement of children and young people and their promotion and empowerment through popular culture, Chapada do Araripe is an exemplary territory of active cultural structures and protagonists, both in terms of the number of participants, the recording and dissemination activities and the events celebrating cultural traditions as elements of sustainability and territorial cohesion.

This heritage legacy illustrates the odyssey of indigenous cultures that evolved over long periods of time without any external influences, giving rise to their own cosmology and a unique universe of knowledge and beliefs and their resilience in the face of new protagonists. And it's in this wider geography that the myths and legends, beliefs, faith and traditions from the distant past of the Indians and caboclos and the colonizers, the masters, writers and poets and so many others, with or without names, have been created, transmitted, told and kept alive that the Cariri Nation emerges as a melting pot of cultures that feeds and drains through its veins to the whole of Cariri and, particularly, in Chapada do Araripe where Cariri Encantado has a stronger expression.

This cultural geography of cultures in motion is an original and exceptional testimony to the importance of popular culture, orality as the primary vehicle for the transmission of knowledge, the importance of the elders and the role of the Masters in the preservation and integral transmission of cultural heritage and the importance of cultural hybridization for the cohesion of community feeling and solidarity.

Criterion (vi): The particular character of popular religiosity and the pilgrimages that bring thousands of penitents and devotees to the region.

Reisados, fife-playing masters, Banda Cabaçal, reisado and other collective forms of cultural manifestations that represent in their themes and costumes the cultural miscegenation and the association of various times that gave them their structure.

Popular masters and the pragmatic nature of transferring culture and arts and crafts.

Criterion (viii): Chapada do Araripe is a unique heritage site. It holds one of the greatest paleontological treasures in Brazil and the world, of inestimable value for the study of the Earth's geological history. Araripe is "a mountain range in decomposition" that geographically delimits three states: Ceará, Pernambuco and Piauí. To the west, its "arms" extend to the border of Piauí, where they meet the Serra da Ibiapaba. To the east, its fertile valleys reach almost to the border of the state of Paraíba through the Serra do Saco and Serra Verde. To the south, along its entire length, it borders Pernambuco. To the north, it opens up its flanks, advancing towards the Ceará sertanejo depression.

The Araripe Plateau is tabular in shape, measuring around 180 kilometers in length on its longest east/west axis, and varying from around 30 to 70 kilometers in width on its north/south axis. At the top of the Chapada, its area is 7,500 square kilometers and its altitude varies from 1,000 to 700 meters. Its geographical coordinates are: 38 30' to 40 55' longitude West of Greenwich, and 7 07' to 7 49' latitude South.

 The Soldadinho do Araripe, a species of bird that does not exist outside this environment, finds here the refuge that safeguards it from the threat of extinction.

This ecosystem, preserved by the communities that inhabited and inhabit this land, presents a grammar of contents that inscribe the geography of being in a landscape that appears to the world as unique and entitled to be preserved.

Statements of authenticity and/or integrity

Authenticity

Chapada do Araripe keeps intact and authentic the attributes and values that give it exceptional universal value in the terms in which it is currently understood by the various international bodies.

The monumentality and rigidity of the natural landscape has entailed efforts, adaptations and integration processes that are revealed in multiple testimonies that refer to the history of the earth as read in geology and are configured as the most original sign of the history of the world and its relationship with the life of man: the diversity of tangible and intangible attributes that bear exceptional witness to the Cariri culture and its ways, which can be attested to by the records of archaeological sites of cave paintings and engravings, testimonies of the past human presence, which reassimilated and reinterpreted and reproduced in their engravings the association of the records with fossil elements and other paleontological assets existing in the territory. This association demonstrates the integration of cultural values with the natural environment, which is reproduced to this day in the cultural manifestations of popular culture and art.

The property is home to a vast array of sites and spatial practices that are perfectly articulated with the territory, such as the exceptional density and the geomorphological and cultural framework of diverse characteristics, but with evident intrinsic unity, in which authenticity can be verified by the material testimonies preserved.

Integrity

The Integrity of this Mixed Heritage Asset, which is the Sociobiodiverse Cultural Basin of the Chapada do Araripe, and of the diverse heritage, material and immaterial, ontological and natural, which is its content, is measured by the way in which the people and the institutions that represent them, spontaneously commit themselves and organize their lives in such a way as to keep traditions strong and alive, and how they work together to preserve them: Either those with greater participation, or those that are more sectoral and involve a smaller number of players and have a more private and less festive character.

The 2015 inscription of the Pau da Bandeira de Santo Antônio Festival in Barbalha as Brazilian Cultural Heritage and entry in the Celebrations Register Book by IPHAN exemplifies the work to keep the region's traditions and cultural facts authentic.

UNESCO's recognition of the geological heritage of the Araripe Geopark, motivated by unique conditions during the geological evolution of the Araripe Basin, especially from the Lower Cretaceous period, between 90 and 150 million years ago, and the high degree of preservation that is recognized in the archaeological assets and traditions, which bear continuous witness to the settlement of diverse communities in this territory, as well as the ways in which they adjusted to it and in correlation with the particular geomorphological features, serve as a scale of recognition of the degree of integrity of the Asset.

This UNESCO World Geopark of Araripe, which has been defined as "a territory of significant and rare beauty", includes several geosites, each characterizing a different period in the region's geological history. Some of these geosites are of relevant scientific interest - Pterosaur Park, Pedra Cariri and Cariri Petrified Forest - others stand out for adding historical and cultural values to their geological interest - Horto Hill, Ponte de Pedra, Missão Velha Waterfall and Pontal de Santa Cruz, Caldeirão - and still others are of high ecological interest - Riacho do Meio and Batateiras. All of them are at the origin of a narrative of an archaeological and mythological nature, whose content and meaning serve to explain the meaning of life of the communities that lived and live in this Basin and the contours of Integrity that the culture of Chapada do Araripe still maintains today.

The creation of the Law for the Registration of Masters of Traditional Popular Culture in the State of Ceará responds to this primacy of promoting and safeguarding the integrity of heritage assets with the community, as it is the community that best knows how to integrate them into the context, value and protect them.

The integrity of the property is attested to by the legibility of the attributes that confer Outstanding Universal Value, where the convergence of the conventions and recognition of the Geopark by Unesco reinforce the values for humanity.

Comparison with other similar properties

The inscription of the Mixed Property of the Sociobiodiverse Cultural asin of the Chapada do Araripe will bring a new element to the World Heritage List.

There is no other property on the List with these characteristics and with easy comparison. Paraty and Ilha Grande: culture and biodiversity, in Brazil, have some similarities. However, this mixed, serialized property, by inscribing a chapter of original culture in a book of Earth History and reporting a completely new property, places Brazil on a level of innovation as far as properties accepted for inscription are concerned. In a way, the first Brazilian mixed site paraty and Ilha Grande: culture and biodiversity, dialogues with the proposal presented here for the Sociobiodiverse Culture Basin of Chapada do Araripe, in which the former has a high degree of endemism due to the species of the Atlantic Forest and marine biodiversity integrated into the cultural system in which the living culture related to the way of life of traditional indigenous, quilombola and caiçaras communities helps to maintain the conservation of environmental biodiversity. In the Chapada do Araripe proposal, the difference lies in the richness of the biomes of which the Chapada is part: caatinga and a portion of the Atlantic Rainforest in transition to the Brazilian semi-arid region, this landscape shaped by the unique geomorphology of the site, which holds the record of the planet's continental and geological transformations, with geological and paleontological testimonies of the genesis of the formation of the Atlantic Rainforest itself, containing fossil species that bear witness to these transformations over more than 150 million years, In addition to this, there are records of human life and presence, with archaeological and mythological sites of rock art and engravings, accumulated in the historical processes of occupation by different peoples and cultures that have led to the richness of the Chapada's cultural basin, in which art and popular culture are experienced and reproduced in the way of life of the man from the sertanejo. At the same time, sociobiodiversity allows the people who live there to have their quality of life and well-being combined with the environment. The proposal for this candidacy is based on the integration and formation of networks in the territory, integrated with community-based tourism, social entrepreneurship and heritage education, in the actions already carried out by the agents and holders of the cultural and natural heritage of the Chapada do Araripe.

Another comparison is made with the Serra da Capivara Natural Park, a Brazilian World Heritage Site, where its value lies in the collection of archaeological rock art sites that bear witness to the past human presence in the Americas. The human occupation of the Serra da Capivara may have had some contact with the inhabitants of the Chapada, but they keep different records and techniques of expression precisely because of the environment in which they lived. In the Araripe plateau, archaeological studies and research show that the engravings and paintings have been reapplied and reaffirmed over the years, demonstrating that these are mystical and symbolic places for the people who lived and live there.