Brazil creates world's largest tropical park

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- A northern swath of Amazon rainforest bigger than Maryland and likely containing a treasure trove of undiscovered animal, insect and plant species became the world's largest tropical national park Thursday.

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed a decree creating the Tumucumaque (too-moo-koo-MAH-kee) Mountains National Park covering a virtually uninhabited region of virgin rainforest in Amapa state, along Brazil's northern borders with Surinam and Guyana.

Tumucumaque, which means "the rock on top of the mountain" in the language of the Apalai and Wayana Indians, covers 9.6 million acres of forest-blanketed mountains with granite outcroppings rising up to 2,300 feet above the forest canopy.

"With the creation of Tumucumaque Mountains National Park, we are ensuring the protection of one of the most pristine forests remaining in the world," Cardoso said. "Plants and animals that may be endangered elsewhere will continue to thrive in our forests forever."

Preparing for summit

The move is one of several environmental measures the government is preparing ahead of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which starts Monday in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Cardoso also signed several laws regulating the use of genetic material gathered from Brazil's immense variety of plant and animal species.

At the 10-day summit, Cardoso is expected to announce the Amazon Region Protected Areas program, putting nearly 200,000 square miles -- including Tumucumaque -- under federal protection in national parks and sustainable development reserves.

Tumucumaque Park is 568,000 acres larger than Slonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, previously the world's largest tropical park.

The forest is inhabited by jaguars, sloths, giant armadillos, anteaters, harpy owls and black spider monkeys.