Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves

The Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves form a serial natural property inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List in 1999. The property brings together a good twenty protected areas across the states of São Paulo and Paraná, in south-eastern Brazil, which together preserve the largest and best-preserved continuous remnant of Atlantic Forest in the country.

The Mata Atlântica is one of the most important biodiversity hotspots on the planet and also one of the most devastated biomes: only a very small fraction of its original extent remains, fragmented into isolated patches. This group is the exception, because the abrupt escarpment of the Serra do Mar, dropping from the plateau to the coast, hampered agricultural settlement and allowed the forest to survive unbroken over hundreds of kilometres.

The altitudinal gradient, from sea level to more than 1,800 metres, and the constant humidity the ocean brings generate a succession of environments: mangrove and restinga on the coast, dense lowland ombrophilous forest, montane forest, araucaria forest at higher altitudes in the south, and high-altitude grassland on the summits. The fauna includes endemic and severely threatened primates such as the muriqui and several species of tamarin, as well as jaguar, puma, tapir and a birdlife with extremely high levels of endemism. Among the units of the property are state parks such as Alto Ribeira, with its cave systems, Ilha do Cardoso, Jacupiranga, Intervales and Carlos Botelho, alongside national parks and environmental protection areas.