Protected Areas in South America

Cabo Orange National Park is located in Amapá state, on the coastline of northern Brazil and close to the border with French Guiana. The park is characterized by flooded grasslands, unique in the Amazon region, as well as by mangroves, which act as "fish nurseries."

Calilegua is the largest national park in the Argentine Northwest, covering a biologically diverse environment. It is also the largest protected area in Argentina dedicated to the conservation of subtropical evergreen mountain rainforests known as Southern Andean Yungas.

Campos Amazônicos National Park is located in northwestern Brazil. It stretches through the state of Amazonas, crossing into the neighboring states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso. It is part of an ecological corridor intended to contain agricultural expansion into the central Amazon.

Campos Gerais National Park is located in the south-central region of the state of Paraná in southern Brazil. The terrain here is rugged. The area's relief contains escarpments, canyons, faults and cracks, hills, caves, underground drains and depressions.

The near-pristine Serranía de la Macarena National Park is one of Colombia's best-protected. It contains the rivers, streams and waterfalls collectively known as Caño Cristales and commonly called the "River of Five Colors" or the "Liquid Rainbow."

Caracol State Park is a small state park in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It contains the dramatic Caracol Falls, a major tourist attraction. The waterfall is situated between the pine forest zone of the Brazilian Highlands and the southern coastal Atlantic Forest and has two cascades.

The Central Amazon Conservation Complex and Biosphere Reserve make up the largest protected area in the Amazon Basin and are one of the planet's richest regions in terms of biodiversity. It is where the majority of the ecosystems recorded in the Amazon Basin are found.

The Central Andean puna ecoregion is a high-elevation montane grassland and shrubland of South America and is part of the Puna grassland region. It is located in the high southern Andes, extending from southern Peru through Bolivia into northern Argentina.

The Central Suriname Nature Reserve comprises nearly four million acres of primary tropical forest. It protects the upper watershed of the Coppename River and the headwaters of the Lucie, Oost, Zuid, Saramaccz and Gran Rio rivers and covers a range of ecosystems.

The Cerrado Biosphere Reserve is defined by the Cerrado biome, which includes dense savanna woodlands, twisted short trees and bushes, and grasslands. It is located in the Brazilian states of Goiás, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, and the Federal District.