An experience for the Future:
Because of its legal recognition, for its ecological significance, and for its actions towards sustainable development, in the year 2000, the MNFR and the Upper Jejui River Watershed received the designation of “Biosphere Reserve” in the 16th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This was the first Biosphere Reserve recognized in the country.
At a national level, the sanction of the national law Nš 112/91 creates the protected 
area for perpetuity and multiple uses which are conformed by the CARJ, with approximately 340,000 hectares of land.
Internationally, the MFNR also meets the minimum requirements to be recognized as Category II (National Park) by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (UICN).
Unique Ecological Significance
The MFNR was classified as the area with the highest priority in Paraguay, within the Master Plan for the National System of Wildlife Protected Areas and the WWF’s agreed biological vision for the Interior Atlantic Forest.
The Mbaracayu Forest is composed of the Southeastern extension called the Interior Atlantic Forest, an ecosystem considered to be one of the bio-geographic regions with highest priority for conservation in Latin America, because of the rapid reduction of it original coverage. It is also one of the two most important areas in the country for the conservation of birds (IBA), and holds approximately 4,000 hectares of “Cerrado”, an ecosystem
with regional priority for its fragility.
The ecological significance of the Mbaracayu Forest is unique, due to the fact that it’s located in a transition area between two types of forests, subtropical and temperate. More than 19 natural communities have been identified; they enclose an extensive representation of endemic plants and animals. Nine species are not represented in other areas that are part of the System of Protected Areas of Paraguay, and three of them were described for the first time in Paraguay at the MFNR.
Location
The MFNR is located in the Oriental Region of Paraguay, in the Canindeyu State, within the area enclosed in the CARJ, thus conserving an important water basin. It is located 315 km. from the city of Asunción, capital of the country. It is estimated that the time of travel from Asunción to the Reserve is approximately 6 hours.
During the years 1987 and 1991, The Moises Bertoni Foundation in alliance with Paraguayan Government and other organizations were able to buy a sub-tropical humid forest remnant, part of the Interior Atlantic Forest ecosystem, in the Oriental Region of Paraguay. This continuous forest remnant, of originally 57,700 hectares, is located in a region that suffered and is currently going through a disorganized use of natural resources with the known 
environmental problems: lost of biodiversity, increased poverty of the population, lost of soil fertility and of land use traditions.
Legal Basis
The legal basis for the protection of the MFNR is granted through an international convention: “Convention for the establishment and conservation of the Mbaracayu Forest Natural Reserve and the basin that surrounds it”, signed on June 27th, 1991 by Paraguayan Government; The Ministry of International Relations; Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock; the Ministry of Finance; by the United Nations representative in Paraguay, The Nature Conservancy, and the Moises Bertoni Foundation. This convention was later ratified by the National Law Nº 112, 1991, creating in perpetuity, not only the established protected area, but also the area for multiple use within the hydrographic basin that surrounds the MFNR: The Upper Jejui River Watershed, which comprises around 330,000 hectares.
The Upper Jejui River Watershed was ratified by UNESCO as part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (16th session of the International Council, 9/11/00). Biosphere Reserve is an international designation granted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. These mentioned areas are recognized at the international level within the UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere program (MAB).
Involvement of Society:
The MFNR protects one of the richest areas of Paraguay in terms of natural resources and provides habitat for indigenous traditional hunting and gathering by the indigenous Aché; ancestral inhabitants of these forests.
From its beginnings, the Mbaracayu has involved the local and regional public in the designation of natural resources of the area by working three essential elements in which sustainable development is based on: democracy, socio-economic wellbeing; and conservation of nature. The Mbaracayu program has received financial and logistical support for achieving its objectives from diverse sectors, both from the international and local level.
It’s important to highlight the participation and support of the regional and local community in general, such as the Canindeyu State, Municipalities of Villa Ygatimi, Ype Jhu, Corpus Christi, Curuguaty, and Katuete, National Committee for the Defense of Natural Resources, indigenous communities living in the area of influence, schools of the area, and the recently established Management Committee of the Mbaracayu Forest Biosphere Reserve (refer to ARC-MBF project), as well as many other organizations. All of these institutions and public areas of action have understood the great benefits derived from this program for the current and future generations.
