Forests4Water Brazil: Community Climate Action

Dear donors, 

We hope you are doing well?  

It's spring in the northern hemisphere, season of hope and renewal. And here, in the south, we're moving into fall. The end of a busy planting season. 

But that doesn't mean that we are sitting on the beach, taking a well earned break. 

Because now's the time for seed collecting, to ensure a good supply of seedlings for the next planting season. Trees give seed at different times of year according to their own timetable, so our nursery manager has to be on the alert if he is going to get to the seeds ahead of all his competitors. The mammals and birds who gobble up the fruit and pass the intact seeds through their digestive tracts. The bats who are the night dispersal agents. The rodents who cache seeds for their food supply. And the trees themselves who take advantage of the wind to ensure that their parachute seeds find enough space and sunlight to be able to germinate. 

There's always a demand among restoration projects for high quality seeds of native forest trees. But seed collecting is not for the fainthearted. The seeds have to be identified, collected, cleaned and safely stored  before they can be sold or traded. And nursery manager Deivid and his team are run off their feet, scouring the forest for seeds. Which is why this year we are setting up a network of seed collectors - to supply our nursery and generate additional income for farm families. Some seeds can fetch high prices - in fact one kilo of this showy tree Tibouchina granulosa can fetch almost two thirds of the minimum wage. (The seeds are tiny and hard to spot!) 

So as you see, the work of forest restoration never ends. Lucky that we enjoy it! 

And lucky for us that you are right there supporting us. We couldn't do it without you - thank you! 

with love and appreciation from 

Binka, Forestry Manager Luiz, Nursery Manager Luiz and the Iracambi team