emerências is a unique eco-friendly destination home to some interesting local species - amongst them, it is common to come across the rare golden tamarin monkey as well as endangered and exotic plants.

in addition to the reserves there are two further environmental protection areas (epa) within the territory of búzios - the first, the pau-brasil epa, stretches from tucuns beach to cabo frio and is one of the most important areas for the growth and preservation of brazil's hardwood trees, also called pau-brasil.

azeda beach has also recently been designated an environmental protection area - apa, and as a result a limit has been imposed on the amount of building permitted in the district - many of the beaches in the region are completely untouched, including the olho de boi beach where the pristine sand sprawls more than 60-meters.