Restoring Brazil's Atlantic Forest

Adapting to change 

The 2020-2021 planting season is finalizing the almost 200 ha that had been started in the second quarter of the year, as well as preparing almost 195 ha that will be planted by April 2021. Together, these areas have a target of nearly 800,000 trees! Planting here is very dependent on climatic conditions and used to take place from October to March, but temperatures in December and January now regularly reach 42°C, which kills young seedlings. Not only that, but the rainy season – which compensated for the temperature – is less predictable than before. From now on, planting will be scheduled twice per year: for March to June when it’s cooler, and then from September to November, so when the rains finally arrive again the seedlings are better established.

Meet Claudio, a master planter

Claudio is the son of rural settlers who moved to the area in the 1960s. He has always enjoyed working directly with the land, and in the 1990s he joined IPÊ’s tree planting initiatives. In the beginning, he had very little equipment, but with the income from the activities he was able to invest in tools and hire staff. Now Claudio owns his own company that works full time on the restoration activities with a team of 11 people. He has learned a lot over the years: in the beginning, he was able to plant 2000 seedlings a day; today he plants 11,000 per day with the same number of staff. As well as providing jobs to the local community, his work has allowed him to send his four children to university, and he proudly lists their careers: veterinarian, doctor, agronomist and dentist. As if this wasn’t enough, he also manages one of the project’s community nurseries, producing around 120,000 native tree seedlings per year.