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.