SAVE Brazil, a non-governmental organization here representing BirdLife International, has completed the first map of threatened Brazilian bird, indicating 163 key areas for bird conservation in 15 states. These ecosystems include the Mata Atlantica, Caatinga, Cerrado and Pampas.

The study shows that 37 percent of the conservation areas in the Mata Atlantica have no effective protection. In the other ecosystems the situation is also alarming.

“Of the eight areas locatedin the Pampas, five have no legal protection; in the Caatinga, eight of the 27 areas identified are protected; and in the Cerrado it's just three in 20,” Pedro Develey, biologist and co-author of the study, told Tierramérica.

The five-year study will be released this month during the 8th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba.