Lençóis Maranhenses National Park – State of Maranhão, Brazil

Created in 1981, the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park protects an area of dunes and lagoons of about 1550 square kilometres. Like the other 300 nature reserves in Brazil, since 2007, it has been managed by the Institute Chico Mendes for biodiversity conservation, named in memory of the trade unionist murdered in 1998 for opposing deforestation in the Amazon.