page_title: Serra do Gandarela National Park
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Serra do Gandarela National Park / History
caption_attribution_description: Português: Caminhada pela trilha da banqueta.
context_page_description: Serra do Gandarela National Park is a national park in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
  It protects a mountainous region holding a remnant of Atlantic Forest that is an important source of water for the city of Belo Horizonte.
context_section_description: At the request of a number of civil organisations the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) prepared a proposal for creating the park, protecting a large part of the Belo Horizonte water sources, which were seriously threatened by mining for iron ore.
  The original proposal in 2010 was to protect an area of 38,220 hectares (94,400 acres), but this was reduced before the park was created.
  Public discussions about the project were started on 10 April 2012.
  The park was created by federal decree on 13 October 2014.
  The decree also added over 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) to the Médio Juruá Extractive Reserve in Amazonas and created the Guaricana National Park in Paraná and the Nascentes Geraizeiras Sustainable Development Reserve in Minas Gerais.
  The national park is classed as IUCN protected area category II (national park).
  The purpose is to preserve samples of biological, geological, speleological and hydrological heritage associated with the Quadrilátero Ferrífero formations, including alpine meadows, remnants of semi-deciduous forest, aquifer recharge areas and the scenery of mountains, plateaus, rivers, waterfalls and natural vegetation.
  The park boundaries did not satisfy the requests of the social organisations who had been consulted, since it did not fully protect the geological formations holding the water supply aquifers.
  The area of Vale's R$4 billon Apollo iron ore project was excluded.
  On the other hand, the park included areas traditionally used by the surrounding communities, causing potential conflict.
  Roberto Vizentin, president of ICMBio, defended the reduction from 38,200 to 31,200 hectares (94,000 to 77,000 acres) and the high risk of pollution from mining as a necessary compromise given the relatively low Human Development Index in the region.
caption: The forest near Nova Lima
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