Stretching from northeastern Brazil down along the Atlantic coastline, reaching inland to eastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina, this biome is considered one of the most biodiverse places in the world.
The Atlantic Forest is also home to around 150 million people, a third of South America’s population. It supplies a significant portion of Brazil’s drinking water, and the hydropower generated from the Paraná River, which starts in and flows through the Brazilian Atlantic Forest to Argentina and Paraguay, provides electricity for more than 60% of the surrounding countries’ populations.
Unfortunately, human activity has destroyed 88% of the original vegetation in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Once totaling 350 million acres (141 million hectares), the forest is now fragmented due to agriculture and urban development, threatening the forest and its ability to ensure clean air and climate regulation, soil protection, pollination, food, medicine, and drinking water to the millions of people who rely on it. Today, it is one of the most endangered biomes in the world.
HP and WWF are expanding our efforts in this vital landscape to restore critical biodiversity corridors; strengthen forest landscape restoration support for approximately an additional 19,700 acres (8,000 hectares) of forest; and improve the protection and management of over 128,000 acres (52,000 hectares) of protected areas. Our vision: to deliver lasting conservation-based opportunities to ensure the forest survives and thrives, providing for the plants, animals and people for generations to come.
