The Nature Tax TPA (Taxa de Preservação Ambiental = Tax for Conservation oft the environment) was introduced in 1989 and changed in 1995. It is supposed to be for the "...Sicherung der Maßnahmen zum Erhalt der Umweltbedingungen und Ökologie des Archipels Fernando de Noronha und zur Verbesserung des (Straßen-)verkehrs und Lebensbedingungen der Einwohner dieses Gebiets...".

It has to be paid by "...allen Personen, die nicht auf dem Archipel wohnhaft sind, sondern zu Besuch mit touristischem Charakter verweilen...".

Exceptions are people, that work on the island, study fauna, flora and the ecosystem of the archipelago for research or educational instituitions or that visit living relatives on the island for up to 30 days.

It must be paid directly at the airport or at the harbour. Recently it is possible to pay in advance here.

The amount depends on the time of staying and doesn't’t grow linearly but increases drastically after 5 days and 10 days. While  6 days are 23 R$ more expensive than 5, the difference between the 29. and the 30. day exceeds 200 R$. On the 1/1/2008 the TPA was again increased a little. A more detailed description is given in the table below.

Note that, in case you want to stay longer, you have to pay the additional tax at the latest at the day when you planned to leave originally. In case you don't, the tax doubles.

In principle, this tax is a great idea - if it was only used for the purpose it is raised for. Already at my first visit I thought: "Streets are supposed to be made out of marmor", because I was angry about the bad roads and the tax I had to pay for prolonging my stay. Streets haven't changed since then. Neither did the situation for the inhabitants concerning public investments like school and hospital which are in a really bad state.

Annually, about 6 Mio.R$ reach the island by the TPA. Where that money goes, I don't know, but maybe the senator of Recife! Obvious is that it doesn't stay in Noronha. The answer to my question what is happening with the money I was given the answer that for example bringing the trash back to the main land is extremely expensive. I have a hard time believing that. The ships that bring everything to the island, have to go back, too. Wouldn't it be possible to make bringing back the trash a condition for delivering the island? There are even sharp tongues saying that the trash that is carried onto ships never reaches the continent.

Noronha should, even more with a own time zone, be its own Brazilian state or at least a Municipio (district town) inside Pernambuco. Some aimed for that already, but in vain. In that case the money would be used for what it collected for - schools, a hospital, streets and desalination of sea water (there's always a lack of drinking water), wind-, water-, and solar plants and in particular conservation of the environment.