Associated Press Atlantic rain forest covers the mountains of the Serra dos Tres Picos in Cachoeira de Macacu, about 100 miles east of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Seven South American birds with dwindling populations will be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Tuesday.

The birds are found almost exclusively in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biome, where deforestation, land clearing for agriculture and resource extraction has destroyed much of their habitat. Several are considered critically endangered and at risk of extinction in the wild.

The endangered birds include the black-hooded antwren, the cherry-throated tanager, the fringe-backed fire-eye and the southeastern rufous-vented ground-cuckoo.

These species are protected under Brazilian law, but the country’s conservation efforts are “inadequate,” the Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement. Listing the species as endangered under American law can help speed the flow of federal funds toward international conservation projects and provide leverage in international negotiations to enhance protection efforts.

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s foreign branch makes several million dollars worth of grants annually to protect endangered species in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, where most of the endangered birds are found, is one of the most biologically diverse forests in the world, and once covered about 330 million acres — an area twice the size of Texas. Only about 7 percent remains intact today.

Development continues to take its toll, with more than one thousand square miles of the forest destroyed from 2002 to  2008, according to a report this month by the Brazilian environmental agency.

At the World Forestry Congress in 2009, representatives from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay pledged that their governments would achieve “net zero deforestation” in the Atlantic Forest by 2020.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the outgoing president of Brazil, also pledged in November 2008 to restore the Atlantic Forest, also known as the the Mata Atlantica, to 20 percent of its original size. Since then, Mr. Lula has approved the creation of two new national parks covering territory in the Atlantic Forest.

And the World Bank has provided $13 million in grants to protect Brazil’s Cerrado region, a unique savanna biome where many endangered birds and other animals are found.