Área de protección ambiental Rincón de Franquía, Environmental protection area at the triple border of Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil.

The Área de manejo de hábitats y/o especies Rincón de Franquía covers 1,229 hectares at the confluence of the Uruguay and Cuareim rivers, north of Bella Unión in Artigas department. It is a floodplain of the Arapey formation with levees and marginal lagoons, its soils of silty clay, old alluvial sediment and sand. Three plant formations occur: riverside forest of the Uruguay, riverside forest of the Cuareim, and park forest, with 54 woody species recorded, among them timbó blanco (Albizia inundata).

The protected area was established in 2004 after local residents started a project to safeguard riverside forests that were facing degradation. This founding effort marked the beginning of formal conservation in this border region.

The area is managed together by GRUPAMA, an organization that brings together residents, local authorities, and community members in joint decision-making. This collaborative approach shapes how people in the region work to care for their natural surroundings.

The reserve lies north of Bella Unión, at the confluence of the Uruguay and Cuareim rivers, next to the Los Pinos balneario on the Uruguay riverfront, which the municipality administers. Access is from Bella Unión; the source gives no road kilometre or lodging inside the reserve. Camping, fishing and hunting were traditionally practised here but are now restricted to areas outside the protected zone.

Among the 223 bird species recorded is the marsh seedeater (Sporophila palustris), globally endangered. The reserve also holds Uruguay's only record of the tree snake Philodryas olfersii and the yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus), plus the bat Eumops patagonicus, very scarce in the country.