News Visitors to the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games will have the chance to get up close and personal with one of Brazil's most endangered species, on a trek that is being specially promoted by Games organisers The golden lion tamarin, or golden marmoset, is a small but charismatic monkey that used to be common across much of the country Today the distribution of this flame-haired primate is limited to small pockets of rainforest in southeastern Brazil, notably the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve in the town of Silva Jardim just outside Rio de Janeiro On Saturday (4 June), Rio 2016 organised an excursion to the reserve as part of its Green Passport partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Green Passport is promoting environmental days out for visitors to Rio de Janeiro and supporting sustainable tourism in the Olympic city Rio favela hike offers alternative – and jaw-dropping – views of Olympic city The inclusion of the new trek in the Green Passport scheme coincided with UNEP's World Environment Day on Sunday This year it was focused on halting the booming illegal trade in wildlife products; the golden lion tamarin is one of the animals to have suffered the most from illegal exports to pet dealers and unscrupulous collectors of exotic animals The work of environmentalists in Silva Jardim has helped save the golden lion tamarin from extinction The population in the reserve is now thriving and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been able to upgrade the species from critically endangered to endangered "In 1983 we started out with just 200 animals," says Andreia Martins of the AMLD, the association for the defence of the golden lion tamarin "Our target was to have 2,000 living in 25,000 hectares of forest by 2025 Ten years before that deadline, we already had 2,200 individuals " The AMLD now wants to create a "green corridor" of rainforests connecting the various towns in Rio state where the animals live Tamarins are found in lowland coastal forests and their habitat is still under threat from deforestation and urbanisation   The five most Instagram-able locations in Rio   The local population has thrived since the establishment of the reserve (Photo: Rio 2016/Gabriel Nascimento) The success of the reserve has brought celebrity visitors from around the world to Silva Jardim Harrison Ford visited in 2013; the tree he planted here is today a popular tourist attraction Visitors to the site are also invited to plant saplings in order to help create the rainforest habitat that the tamarins require "We don't want people to come here just to see the monkeys," AMLD executive secretary Luis Paulo Ferraz said "We want them to help us protect them " Visitors from the Rio 2016 organising committee tuck into a hearty meal at the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve​ (Photo: Rio 2016/Gabriel Nascimento) Find out more about the Green Passport initiative Torch bearers In recognition of her work to protect the endangered monkey, Andreia Martins from the AMLD has been nominated to carry the Olympic Torch In total, the Rio 2016 organising committee has chosen 28 people who work in the area of environmental preservation or sustainable development to be torchbearers Another torchbearer with a success story to tell is Neiva Guedes, a biologist whose work has been instrumental in increasing the population of the brightly coloured hyacinth macaw in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul Just as with the golden lion tamarin, the birds were often the victims of illegal trade and export  Thanks in part to the work of the Instituto Arara Azul set up by Guedes, the IUCN has improved the status of the bird from endangered to vulnerable   Sabrina Porcher, a specialist in sustainability at Rio 2016, says that by nominating environmentalists such as Martins and Guedes to be torchbearers, the organising committee aims to draw attention to wildlife conservation efforts in Brazil "In the environmental area we are focusing on biodiversity and on the rainforest," she said "We chose torchbearers to represent these issues and to stand up for endangered animals "