[2] The reserve includes remnants of Atlantic Forest in 15 states, including Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, and the coastal states of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

The moist, sub-tropical, semi-deciduous forest includes species such as Araucaria angustifolia, Podocarpus lambertii and Drimys brasiliensis.

Associated ecosystems include upland meadows with grasses and small heaths, cerrado, mangroves, salt marsh scrublands and sand spits.

The remnants contain 171 of the 202 threatened species in Brazil, including golden lion tamarins and several near-extinct forest cats.

The many protected areas in the biosphere reserve include the Caraça Natural Park, the Itatiaia National Park and the privately-owned Caratinga Biological Station, home to a population of the highly endangered woolly spider monkeys, three other primates and more than 200 rare birds.

[3] One of the triggers for creating the biosphere reserve was a catastrophic landslide on several slopes of the Serra do Mar in 1985, caused by deforestation that had resulted from pollution from the industrial center of Cubatão.

The Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve was defined in 1991, covering a few parts of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Paraná.

[10] The national council includes representatives of federal, state and municipal governments, non-government organizations, scientists, business leaders and residents of the reserve.

[2] A project to create three new protected area mosaics in the Serra do Mar Ecological Corridor began in December 2005, coordinated by the National Council of the Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve.