The Chiriqui Highlands, in which Santa Clara is located, forms part of the Talamanca Mountain Range, which has the highest biodiversity index of the Central American isthmus. In 2001 the Range was designated a Worldwide Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. The area contains the International Park la Amistad and the Volcan Baru Park. It is part of the PAMBAC (Panamanian Atlantic Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, itself a section of the Meso-American Biological Corridor) which extends from the Colombian border to the Costa Rican frontier.