Lençóis Maranhenses National Park

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

Consisting of large and extensive dunes, Lençóis Maranhenses National Park resembles a desert. However, located in northeastern Brazil, on the east coast of Maranhão, the property is subject to a semi-humid climate with a rainy season providing large volumes of water and resulting in the formation of temporary inter-dunal lagoons. The property comprises an area of 156,562 ha, of which about 90,000 ha are composed of an extensive dune field with temporary and permanent lagoons, bordering deflation plains as source area for the dunes along the 80 km coastline. The mostly unidirectional wind shapes barchan dunes up to 75 km in length. The property presents its most stunning scenery, when the lagoons reach their maximum water levels during the rainy season, exhibiting a wide range of different colours, shapes, sizes, and depths. The origin of the dune field is related to sedimentation from marine transgressions and regressions, which combined with the wind action allowed the formation of dune fields along the Quaternary. The property is located in the Barreirinhas Basin in a transition zone between three Brazilian biomes: Cerrado, Caatinga and Amazon. The park’s vegetation is composed of pioneer formations of Restinga, mangroves and alluvial communities that, together with marine and freshwater environments, are fundamental for the conservation of species diversity.

Criterion (vii): The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park is part of an incomparable landscape. It is formed by successive dune chains interspersed with temporary and perennial lagoons. Along the park’s 80 km of coastline, there is a beach between 600m and 2km. The sand deposited by tides on the beach is gradually eroded by the wind, shaping small barchans with heights ranging from 50 cm to one metre near the shoreline, reaching heights of up to 30 m as they migrate inland, downwind and atop dunes from previous generations. The barchan dunes form winding chains up to 75 km long and move over 20 km inland. During the rainy season, temporary lakes form between the dunes, only to vanish in the dry season, leading to a constant transformation of the landscape. With dune mobility at migration rates ranging from 4 to 25 meters per year, these lakes reemerge in new locations with altered shapes in the subsequent rainy season. The lakebeds are coated with a layer of brown or green algae and cyanobacteria, contributing to the ever-changing scenery and variety of shapes and colours, composing a landscape of unique beauty rarely found anywhere else in the world.

Criterion (viii): The sediments in the Barreirinhas Basin are subject to aeolian processes forming a field of fixed and mobile dunes, considered the largest in South America. This process is considered one of the best and largest examples of the development of coastal dunes along the Quaternary, and the only site worldwide with such extensive development of dynamic dunes and lagoons. The dunes form long chains of barchans arranged in the same direction and increasing in size as they advance inland. Temporary ponds are formed by the rise of the water table during the rainy season. The property stands out within the complex interplay of climatic, oceanographic, and geomorphological elements along the Brazilian coast, featuring unique dune and lagoon formations fed exclusively by rainwater. These features, shaped by coastal dynamics and various environmental interactions, serve as remarkable evidence of the evolutionary progression of coastal dunes over millennia, including insights into pre-vegetation fluvial landscapes, serving as a present-day analogue for understanding past fluvial processes. The geomorphological processes create pristine and nascent habitats for a diverse and specialised and pioneer flora and fauna.

Integrity

With an area of 156,562 ha, the property encompasses 90,000 ha of dune fields with beautiful chains of barchans interspersed with temporary and perennial lagoons, exclusively fed by rainwater. More than 40,000 ha are covered by Restinga vegetation, which along with mangroves, lagoons, rivers, marine areas and other ecosystems supports species diversity and interact with geomorphological processes. The area is therefore large enough to guarantee the representation of elements and processes that constitute the property’s Outstanding Universal Value.

The dunes are separated from the coastline by a broad deflation plain ranging from 600 m to 2000 m in width. The sand deposited by tides on the beach is gradually eroded by the wind, shaping small barchans with heights ranging from 50 cm to one metre near the shoreline, reaching heights of up to 30 m as they migrate inland, downwind and atop dunes from previous generations. The dunes migrate with a speed of up to 25 m per year. During the rainy season, lagoons emerge amidst very clean sand. With no inlet or outlet, they are exclusively fed by rainwater. The fluctuation of the water table controls the morphology of the dunes.

The property is fully surrounded by a buffer zone of 268,231 ha, both along the coast and inland, creating an ecological buffer between the natural ecosystems and urbanised areas.

Protection and management requirements

The property is protected through the designation as Lençóis Maranhenses National Park with an area of 156,562 ha. This legally protected area is recognised since 1981 by legal decree and administered by the national protected areas authority, ICMBio, and comprises the National System of Protected Areas (SNUC), as the main territorial management instrument aimed at environmental protection and biodiversity conservation. The network of protected areas within and beyond the property also interacts with other levels of environmental protection and management at the state and municipal levels, as well as other legal instruments that intend to protect important ecosystems beyond protected areas boundaries.

In addition, it is part of the National System of Protected Areas (SNUC), belonging to the integral protection group, where natural resources can only be used indirectly. It has well defined boundaries and buffer zones with their respective regulation instruments, being the Management Plan and Public Use Plan. Management effectiveness evaluations are conducted regularly, and results publicly addressed. Monitoring, enforcement, and governance needs to be commensurate with the level of action needed to respond to pressures from tourism.

Governance and participatory approaches are secured both for multi-level governmental decision-making as well as users of the property, through at least two instances: the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park Council and the Regional Governance Instance Lençóis-Delta. At the time of inscription, more than 4,000 people are living within the boundaries of the property. Local and traditional communities need to be equitably involved and their rights observed. The National Park officially recognises the communities through “Terms of Commitment”, intending to respond to needs and sustainable activities carried-out by local inhabitants within the boundaries of the property. The identification and recognition of the traditional communities was still at an early stage at the time of inscription and will need to be strengthened.

The marine part of the buffer zone is subject to the National Coastal Management Plan and Ecological Economic Coastal Zoning (ZEEC). To ensure the protection of the property against threats from offshore, a strengthened protection and management regime for the marine part of the buffer zone will be required in future.