Forests4Water Brazil: Community Climate Action

Hello! We hope you are great! 

Check out CNN's TV report about the challenges of preserving the Atlantic Forest in Minas Gerais, southeastern state in Brazil, the tireless work of Iracambi NGO to keep our forest alive, and Juliana Vital’s life story, a descendant of the Puri people who inhabited this region for centuries.

The TV report was carried out in March of this year and is part of the “Call to Earth”, a global initiative from CNN to engage communities the world over in making a difference to protect the future of our planet.

“Much of Brazil's coastline was once covered by the Atlantic Forest”, said Julia Vargas Jones, the CNN reporter on her Instagram page. “Earlier this year, we had the incredible privilege of heading to the edge of this threatened ecosystem and follow a group of people fighting to restore it to its former glory, and protect the region’s rich biodiversity”, she highlighted.

Happy reading, and have a nice week!

Iracambi Team

Links:

• CNN Call to Earth - TV report

Dear donors, 

We hope you enjoyed your peek behind the scenes of the forestry program which we brought you in our last letter, and today we want to show you how we are getting ready for the dry season and the possibility of fire. 

Fire hasn't traditionally been a big hazard for us. But it's always good to be prepared. And we can't wait for the nearest fire fighting team to arrive - they are located forty five kilometers away and, even if they were available, it could take them several hours to reach us.

Since 2024 brought us an exceptional drought with no rain for several months, we decided that we needed to organize ourselves in advance.We asked the local fire brigade if they could come and give us a training session, fourteen people signed up for the weekend training, and so the first rural fire brigade in the area was established. Just as well, because shortly after that we did have a fire that licked at the edges of our forest, and we were able to put our new-found skills to work. 

A couple of weeks ago we had another training session, so that now we have thirty women and men who have been trained in fire fighting and first aid, we have extended our fire breaks and we're all set in case of need. One more way in which we are doing everything we can to protect and restore the forest.  

Thank you for having our back. We couldn't do it without your support!

with love and appreciation

 Luiz, Deivid and the Iracambi forestry team - not forgetting firefighters Gabi and Dayana!