Forests4Water Brazil: Community Climate Action

Dear friends! 

We hope you are all doing really well, and we’re so happy to be able to send you an update from the rainforest, where things are going flat out. (And we wouldn’t have it any other way, of course!) 

We told you about the support that our partners from the University of Viçosa have been giving to us over the last couple of months by helping us improve our irrigation system, right? We needed to set up a new water intake for the whole campus - the plant nursery and all the buildings here at Iracambi. And our wonderful groundsman Deocar has been working hard to build the new system.  

Last time we wrote, we were coming out of the dry season, and the question of a reliable water supply was becoming crucially important. Now that the rains are here, there are a new series of challenges - mainly to do with keeping the water channels and pipes clear of leaves that can choke off the water supply. 

But our water sampling shows that the water quality is high, and we’re aiming to keep it that way!

And, another newsflash. Fran, our nursery manager has been hard at work collecting seeds. Different trees give seed at different times, and she needs to be ready to collect them on their time, not on hers!  Luckily it’s one of the things she really, really enjoys, and she can usually find a student or two to help her go off into the woods and collect the seeds. 

And finally, we’re looking forward to the visit of one of our sponsors from Europe. He is bringing a team, not only to pay a site visit, but also to roll up their sleeves and help out with the tree planting. Stand by for more news in our next letter! 

And THANKS once again for your amazing support. It means the world to us!  

with lots of rainy forest love from 

The Iracambi Foresters 

Dear donor,

Thank you so much for your ongoing support to our Forests for Water Program! 

We’re here today to show you a little bit more about our partnership with The Nature Conservancy, which is a non-profit organization that operates in more than 35 countries, whose mission is to “conserve the lands and waters on which life depends”. 

Their project “Restore Brazil” takes place throughout Brazil and contributes to reforestation through Agroforestry systems.  These are both environmentally and economically sustainable planting systems, which plant crops along with trees, thereby creating an economic return to landowners. 

Our team is researching Agroforestry Systems to discover what it takes to guarantee that the project works effectively for smallholders and family farmers of this region, because, in addition to planting trees and crops together we need to seed the idea of agroforestry in people’s minds!

We can say that the approach is based on the teachings of Paulo Freire:  rather than sharing  knowledge with farmers, we should exchange knowledge with them, (listening more than talking, and encouraging the farmers to participate actively.) 

This partnership with TNC has great potential for success, and will increase the impact of our work in the fight against climate change.

Increasing our scale and impact is good, but doing this with the right partners is better, and YOU ARE A BIG PART OF THIS JOURNEY