Restoring Brazil's Atlantic Forest

The forest corridors that you are helping us restore in Pontal do Paranapanema in Brazil, provide habitat for a number of animal species, many of which are listed as endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. One of the greatest threats to the survival of these species is, in fact, forest fragmentation. By reconnecting the Atlantic Forest, we are not only making earth cooler but also ensuring that jaguars, ocelots, giant anteaters, pumas and lowland tapirs can move safely across the landscape.

In early 2016, our project partner IPE set up a number of cameras in the newly restored areas to document the animals that pass through them. Their team analyses the images and audio recordings that cameras automatically capture when they detect movement. Data about the species and their migration paths helps us identify forest landscape restoration priorities and suitable methodologies.

The Atlantic Forest is one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world but has suffered severe deforestation. Once stretching more than 1.2 million square kilometers across Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, the forest now retains only about 8% of its original size. A recent study co-authored by Dr. Laury Cullen of IPE found that jaguars lost around 85% of their habitat. Throughout the entirety of the Atlantic Forest, there are fewer than 300 jaguar individuals, scattered across small, isolated sub-populations. If this trend continues, the Atlantic Forest will be the first tropical forest ecoregion to lose a predator on top of its food chain.

However, there is hope. The study identified seven Jaguar Conservation Units: areas with a suitable habitat and a population of male and female jaguars. One of them is located near the Upper Parana-Paranapanema area, where WeForest has already restored more than 500 hectares of forest. Thanks to the footage from the forest cameras, we can see that jaguars and other species enjoy walking among the young trees we planted with your support.

More photos of jaguars and other species moving through the forest corridors are available here.

In the area of Pontal we work in, land tenure is very diverse. Right next to the large private farms, there are settlements of small farmers from the Landless Workers’ Movement, a social movement fighting to secure land rights for rural workers.

With small farm plots and limited economic opportunities, settlers struggle to earn a decent living. WeForest engages local communities from the Landless Workers’ Movement in the restoration of the Atlantic Forest. Our local partner IPÊ gives training to members of this movement to build capacities within the communities and empower them to become entrepreneurs.  Training ranges from nursery activities to agroforestry. Locals set-up their own tree nurseries and business units to plant trees, and take care of the land.  WeForest then partners with those community-established nurseries to collect native seeds and nurture the seedlings for planting. We also contract members of the Landless Workers’ Movement to carry out the tree planting and forest restoration.

As a result of the project, local people receive a steady income, learn valuable skills and become key environmental stewards. In total, the project engages 177 local people. There are 115 nursery workers from 23 families and 62 restoration contractors. The minimum wage in Brazil (as of January 1^st, 2016) is US$ 228 per month, and the average wage in Pontal is US$ 625.  The nursery activities bring each family an additional income of US$ 450per month, which amounts to a 72% increase in a family’s income.  Similarly, the planting contractors have generated US$ 410,000 of local income in the past 24 months. This represents a mean extra income of US$ 1,137 per family per month, or five times the national minimum wage. The graph below illustrates the substantial increase in income that the project brings to the participating families.

In addition, 76 families were trained in seedling production at the project nurseries. The Alvorado nursery has recently been offered co-financing through a local partner as a practical training platform in community agroforestry seedling production and planting techniques. The project also offers educational services to local school groups to engage young people on the issue of environmental conservation. The training that takes place at the project nurseries, therefore, expands the impact of the project well beyond the small farmers.

WeForest and its partner IPE are supporting the restoration of forest corridors in the Atlantic Forest, in Pontal. The areas are critical for the survival of the black lion tamarin, as forest corridors will increase their habitat and improve landscape connectivity. Protecting and restoring the Atlantic Forest would mean conserving this species last remaining habitat and securing its long-term survival.

Around 800 of the remaining black lion tamarins live in the Morro Do Diabo State Park. In April 2017, a new group of black lion tamarins was captured in the North of the Morro do Diabo State Park. This is the second group that will be monitored through GPS tracking devices. The black lion tamarins get a collar with GPS tracking function, and the data gathered from these collars will be integrated in a study on the use of space, movement patterns, habitat preference and energy expenditure by the black lion tamarins in different fragments. The GPS technology is widely used for larger species, but it is the first time we are using this on small primates (<1kg). The first wild group with a GPS collar is being monitored since July 2016 and we will soon retrieve the data for the first results. With this technology, we can monitor a greater number of groups simultaneously, and increase the amount of information gathered from the field. "Our plan is to expand our monitoring work to even more populations and get a great amount of useful information to support the species conservation planning", explains the project coordinator Gabriela Rezende. The information gathered from wildlife movement allows us to further expand the forest restoration project and smartly decide where the next corridors will be located to enlarge the habitat of endangered species. A new area that we are discovering is a corridor in the North of the Morro do Diabo State Park, where isolated populations of the Black lion tamarins are still present.

It is the perfect timing to start working here and reduce the extinction risk of these tiny black lion tamarin populations!

While winter storms are blazing in the planet's northern hemisphere, it is summertime in Pontal do Paranapanema, Brazil. Summertime equals rainy season, which is good news for the newly planted seedlings. For the planting teams in the field the heavy showers bring challenges. Luckily, rain showers generally don't last that long in the Pontal.

While the rains may cause difficulties for the field teams, at the tree nurseries it spells good news. It is an extremely busy time for the nursery workers, who are making the most of the rains to grow seedlings like pau-viola, jatobá, copaíba and jacaranda. These species are indigenous for the Atlantic Forest and thrive under the hot and humid conditions. By the time the nursery workers are done, they'll have planted more than four thousand seedlings of each species ready for planting in the field in a matter of months.

The results of all the hard work are worth every effort. Our team in Brazil has just been back from a visit to recently restored sites. During the visit they checked on the survival of the seedlings and took aerial drone photographs so that in the future we can compare restored forest with the original. "The planting was done at the right time, taking advantage of the rainy season. The seedlings enjoy the advantage of this natural irrigation and develop very well", explains Nivaldo Campos, coordinator of the agroforestry nurseries in Pontal.

We are very excited to see that the seedlings look healthy and growing well. We look forward to watching them flourish into a dense, biodiverse forest.

We have great news for you: by the end of this year WeForest will have achieved its ambitious objective to restore 400 hectares (almost 990 acres) of ecological forest corridors in Pontal do Paranapanema, Brazil. We aim to repeat this achievement every year and with your help we can.

What has happened in the past few months? During the March-May planting season a terrible draught hit Brazil, shortening the tree planting season. This was disappointing, but it gave us more time to prepare the land for future planting and grow more seedlings in the community nurseries. Beginning of November it started to rain again, and this time the rains were good. Planting is happening right now at full speed!

The ecological corridors connect remaining forest patches in the area, thereby considerably enlarging the habitat of wildlife and preserving biodiversity. The 400 hectares of new forests have other benefits. Firstly, local people benefit: 115 people found a permanent job at one of the ten community tree nurseries and 62 have employment in the planting activities. And the planet benefits: the new trees in Brazil sequester almost 128,000 tonnes of CO2 over 30 years, thereby Making Earth Cooler.

You can read more about the project activities and the ecological and socioeconomic impact of our reforestation on our planting report that is attached to this mail.

Do you want to continue supporting us? Perhaps you might consider Giving Tuesday, November 29, as a good opportunity. On this day Bill and Melinda Gates will match every donation with 50%.

• Brazil Planting Updat November 2016 (PDF)