Water for the Atlantic Rainforest People

Down in the Forest Something Stirred.... 

Remember that? Well, things are certainly stirring down in our forests. We've managed to secure fencing materials for     the first farmers which are now in place, our tree seedlings are ready to go, each property has its individual plan so that we, (and the farmers) know exactly which species of tree to plant, in which soils and on which parts of the property.

Now all we have to do is wait for the rains. And they can't come soon enough! It's been terrifically hot here (as well as in many other parts of the world,) and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief when it dawned grey and damp yesterday. So if the  promised storms really do arrive, then we can go ahead and get the planting going. 

There are more exciting things in the pipeline too. Due to the success of this pilot project, we are planning to scale up. More farmers, more trees, more water. More impact on mitigating the effects of climate change. We have recently been included in a pilot scheme to plant trees for carbon offsets. Our nursery manager is hiring an assistant so that he can produce more tree seedlings. And so that we can download some of his encylopedic knowledge of all things tree related. Our students are helping make more seed tables.

So it's all good! And we couldn't do it without you, dear donors. Thank you for your support and stay tuned for the next instalment of the forest water project. 

Rainforest best to you all,

Toni, Gui, and the forestry team      

Links:

• our site

We have lots of good news to share!

The first one is, two days ago, we received two brazilian interns, who will help us to develop better agroforestry systems for our region. They are Felipe Dantas and Carlos Rubens, both agroecology students from the Federal Technology Institute, in Rio Pomba, Minas Gerais state. On their second day, they had a chance to climb up Itajuru, the highest rock in our area (1640m above the sea level), scorting a group of local youth who are part of Iracambi´s Environment Education Program "Young Eco-Leaders of the Rainforest" (check our project GG page below) There they had a chance to see forest fragmentation in action, and check the big picture of the scenario where they will implement their ideas. 

Tomorrow we´ll visit our first local producer eager to reforest part of his lands. This is a special case, as this farmer already works with a big variety of fruits. The big issue is that he plants all of them conventionally, using lots of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and thus contaminating his water sources. Having a chance to reforest in his land, is also a chance to build a fruit agroforest system, and prove him that it actually works. So hands and minds on the job and fingers crossed!

On Saturday we´re visiting two other rural producers, but in this case our main task we´ll be recovering their springs. Carlos and Felipe have already given us awesome suggestions of how to plan our agroforest systems in a way that the local fauna help us to bring more tree´s diversity. Isn´t it cool?

On next Saturday, August first, we´ll have a chance to present our project and interns in a local gathering organized by our neighboors from Serra do Brigadeiro State Park. We´re looking forward to meet local farmers and recruit more people willing to preserve their springs.

And it is also important to say that we´re studying a partnership between Iracambi and IEF (the State Park  Institution in Minas Gerais) to sum up our reforesting efforts, and see if we can provide free fencing materials for the springs we reforest, as nowadays it is the biggest cost for the farmers.

All this good news wouldn´t be real if it wasn´t for surreal people like you, our friends and supporters, who have contributed to our program.

Thanks for all your help and keep it real!

Gui, Felipe, Carlos, Toni and all the Iracambi Staff

Links:

• Young Eco-Leaders fo the Rainforest Page
• IEFs page