Reforesting the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil

SINAL has a trail network in the APA (Area de Preservação Ambiental) of Petropolis, a federally designated environmental area, which gives SINAL a special status in terms of conservation. Moreover, we are situated in one of the valleys of the municipality of Duque de Caxias, the third most populous city in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, making our location essential for preventing  destruction of the Mata Atlântica by the growing urban encroachment.

SINAL has an extensive nature trail network, providing an opportunity to educate and engage the local underserved communities  in the process of conservation of the Mata Atlântica, one of the most threatened ecosystems of Brazil.  Our trails highlight the native tree and animal species that  we all must work  to preserve. 

With the Botanical Gardens of Rio de Janeiro SINAL has identified endengerous species that we must preserve.

• Brochure Rio View Trail in English (PDF)
  

The first quarter of 2015 has been one of excitement and expansion for SINAL. We successfully constructed a new greenhouse using recylced materials that now houses our approximately 1000 seedlings. In the past few months, we have collected seeds from 35 different native species trees for our restoration project and have begun reforesting our first major area. Another exciting development is that SINAL is now spear-heading a new initiative called the Green Belt, which is a coalition of several environemntal NGOs working in reforestation of the Mata Atlantica in the surrounding region of Rio de Janeiro and the Guanarabara Bay. The Green Belt's objective is to create an extensive nature corridor in this metropolitan area in order to protect the reamaining biodiversity of the Atlantic Rainforest and contain the growing urban encrouchment. SINAL has been identified as the catalyst and center of the initative given our mission of promoting dialogue and learning among different sectors and cultures; we host the Green Belt meetings on our property and are leading the coaltion of the 5 reforestation NGOS in Mata Atlantica. We are at the beginning of an exciting and transformative new year for SINAL.