World Heritage Identification Number: 892
World Heritage since: 1999
Category: Natural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇧🇷 Brazil
Continent: Americas
UNESCO World Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
Map
Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves: A Biodiverse Haven Along Brazil's Eastern Seaboard
The Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, encompasses eight distinct protected areas spanning approximately 112,000 hectares across the Brazilian states of Bahia and Espírito Santo. This expansive network of reserves serves as a vital sanctuary for one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems – the Atlantic Forest.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves, in the states of Bahia and Espírito Santo, consist of eight separate protected areas containing 112,000 ha of Atlantic forest and associated shrub (restingas). The rainforests of Brazil’s Atlantic coast are the world’s richest in terms of biodiversity. The site contains a distinct range of species with a high level of endemism and reveals a pattern of evolution that is not only of great scientific interest but is also of importance for conservation.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (ix): The Brazilian Discovery Coast includes a number of areas containing the best and largest remaining examples of Atlantic forest in the northeast region of Brazil and contains high numbers of rare and endemic species.
Criterion (x): The site displays the biological richness and evolutionary history of the few remaining areas of Atlantic forest of northeast Brazil. The site reveals a pattern of evolution of great interest to science and importance for conservation. The fact that only these few scattered remnants of a once vast forest remain, make them an irreplaceable part of the world’s forest heritage.
Encyclopedia Record: Atlantic Forest
The Atlantic Forest, also called Missionary rainforest, is a moist broadleaf forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and the Misiones Province of Argentina.Additional Site Details
Area: 111,930 hectares
(x) — Contains most important habitats for biodiversity
Coordinates: -16.5 , -39.25
Image
NASA and Miguelrangeljr, Public domain
