 the tijuca forest (floresta da tijuca in portuguese) is a mountainous hand-planted rainforest in the city of rio de janeiro, brazil. it is claimed to be the world's largest urban forest, covering some 32&nbsp;kmÂ² (12.4&nbsp;miÂ²), although there are sources assigning this title to the urban forest of johannesburg, south africa, where between 6 and 9.5 million trees were planted. thumb|300px|tijuca forest the forest shares its name with bairros or neighborhoods of tijuca and barra da tijuca that contain its entrances. it is located in a mountainous region, which encompasses the tijuca massif. the word "tijuca" from tupi language which means marsh, and is a reference to the tijuca lagoon in the contemporary barra da tijuca. the forest forms a natural boundary that separates the west zone of the city from the south, central and north ones, and the north zone from the south one. the tijuca forest is a man-made reclamation of land around rio de janeiro that had previously been cleared and developed to grow sugar and coffee. replanting was carried out by major manuel gomes archer in the second half of the 19th century in a successful effort to protect rio's water supply. this followed concerns made by the brazilian king dom pedro ii in 1861 about erosion and deforestation caused by intensive farming, as declining levels of rainfall had already begun impacting on the supply of drinking water. the tijuca forest is home to hundreds of species of plants and wildlife, many threatened by extinction, and found only in the atlantic rainforest (mata atlÃ¢ntica in portuguese). the vegetation is so dense that scientists have estimated that ambient temperatures in surrounding areas have been lowered by up to 9Â°c. some 30 waterfalls also occur in the forest. in 1961, tijuca forest was declared a national park. the forest contains a number of attractions, most notably the colossal sculpture of christ the redeemer atop corcovado mountain. other attractions include the cascatinha waterfall; the mayrink chapel, with murals painted by cÃ¢ndido portinari; the light pagoda-style gazebo at vista chinesa outlook; and the giant gr
Forests_of_Brazil Parks_in_Rio_de_Janeiro_(city) Protected_areas_established_in_1961 Protected_areas_of_Rio_de_Janeiro_(state)