GlobalGiving.org: Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil

Project report. December 2011.

Roberto Lamego — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:42:13 GMT

Here students come close to nature.

Dear donors.

First of all I want to announce that the SALVEASERRA project: “Trees and Education Protect the Atlantic Rainforest”, was the Environment category winner of the 2011 Wave of Change campaign run by the Neutrogena cosmetics company. This was really great and rare opportunity for us and with this big donation we can make plans for the next 4 years, expand our operations to 2 or 3 neighboring counties, receive more groups monthly, hire guides and teachers to help us and provide visitor with information leaflets and DVDs on the Atlantic Rainforest and agroforestry techniques.

With this new donation we can also make plans to increase the reforestation of our areas and the development of the agroforestry demonstration plots. We are planning to plant 5000 trees per year.

Here the Neutrogena campaign site: http://www.neutrogena.com/category/wave%2Bfor%2Bchange.do

We would also like to inform you that from GlobalGiving Gift Card Challenge we are going to receive a bonus grant donation to plant 800 trees in the rainforest of Concordia Mountains Wildlife Sanctuary.

http://www.globalgiving.org/gifts/?rf=fb. This is the perfect right time because the planting season starts now.

We continue with our activities as you will see in attached pictures and links.

There are pictures of students visiting the Wildlife Sanctuary, of lectures and presentations to prepare new students to participate of the “Day in the Forest” ecological trail, of the acquisition and delivery of seedlings and of a research team from the Ministry of Agriculture inspecting forest experiments plots they have there with us since 2000.

Link 1: Slideshow of a student’s visit to Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. You will also see some pictures of a group of bat researchers that come regularly to our area where they have found more than 30 different species of bats.

Link 2: In this TV video show you will see our deforested mountainous Atlantic Rainforest region during the dry and incendiary period, the Wildlife Sanctuary and a bit of my work. In Portuguese.

Link 3: Newspaper article with interview on agroforestry and organic agriculture. In Portuguese.

As you see, with your help, things are going well and we have great plans for the next years.

Please accept my sincere thanks.

Roberto Lamego

Ruins of old coffee farm aqueduct.

Students preparing to leave Wildlife Sanctuary.

Slideshow for school going to "Day in the Forest"

Lecture in another school.

Students listen attentively.

First lot of 500 tree seedlings.

Coffee seedling for agroforestry plantation.

Three species Palm trees for this year plantation.

Ministry of Agriculture agroforest experiment.

3500 trees of different species planted in 2000.

Mesuring experiment parcels and counting trees.

Links:

NEUTROGENA-GlobalGiving Wave for Change campaign.

Roberto Lamego — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:13:24 GMT

Dear donor.

I need your help to vote for and recommend the SALVEASERRA project, which as you probably recall is an NGO in Valença, Rio de Janeiro, an Environmental Protection Group working to save the Serra da Concórdia, one of the very few areas of mountainous Atlantic Rainforest remaining in Brazil. We are finalists in the Wave of Change campaign run by the Neutrogena cosmetics company.

Every year our main sponsor, the GlobalGiving Foundation conducts a partnership with Neutrogena (www.neutrogena.com) for a fundraising campaign called Wave for Change. This raises money for worthwhile projects.

The nine Wave of Change finalists were chosen from the catalog of projects supported by GlobalGiving, in three categories: Education, Environment and Disaster Recovery: Rebuilding Lives.

This year, I am delighted and proud to say, the SALVEASERRA project Trees and Education Protect the Atlantic Rainforest has been selected from among 188 projects to be one of the three finalists in the Environment category. This is a rare opportunity for us.

Now the important thing: only ONE project will be selected in each category to share the money being raised. Winners are being chosen by voting on the Internet. The other six finalists will receive some coverage on MTV and in other media channels and other promotions, but no financial support.

For us this is an uphill struggle. My main competitor is a very good and attractive U.S. project with a strong appeal for nature lovers. It also has a patriotic advantage because of course Neutrogena is an American company.

To win this competition we will need a massive mobilization of all our friends, and friends of friends in Brazil and around the world. We need to use Facebook, Twitter, e-mails and whatever personal networks may be available.

That’s why I am seeking your help to vote and ask your friends to do the same. As you know, saving what remains of the Atlantic Rainforest is very important, and SALVEASERRA exists mainly because of your donations and without any regular government support.

To vote in the campaign you do not have to buy any product; you just go to the Neutrogena page and vote: http://www.neutrogena.com/category/wave+for+change.do

Make sure you click on Protect the Rainforest in Brazil!

Voting closes August 31, 2011, and you can follow the progress of the vote by returning to the same page.

Please accept my sincere thanks.

Roberto Lamego

Please see in these links a visit that Melissa Balgley and Joshua Niederman from GlobalGiving recently made to our GlobalGiving projects, Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil and Provide Vegetable Gardens for Families in Brazil.

https://picasaweb.google.com/110709315454919422487/ADayInTheForestEcologicalTrekkingForJoaoEstevesMunicipalSchoolPentagnaValencaRio?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfZuuKy39KQ5QE

https://picasaweb.google.com/110709315454919422487/MelissaAndJoshVisitToSALVEASERRAInValencaRioDeJaneiroBrazil?authkey=Gv1sRgCI-jl-3ih-LxrAE

Teaching Children about the Environment

Joshua Niederman — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:37:33 GMT

Valença schoolchildren

My name is Joshua Niederman. I am an In the Field intern visiting GlobalGiving partner organizations in Brazil. Read here about my recent visit to "Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil"!

This project brings public schoolchildren to a beautiful private nature reserve outside of Valença, Rio de Janeiro state to appreciate the beauty of the environment and recognize the need to protect what is left of the Atlantic Rainforest. During my visit, I traveled with over 50 children from a rural school to visit the preserve. The children were full of joy to see trees that they had never seen before and to try delicious fruits like Caja-manga, a delicious fruit that is sweet and acidic, has a brilliant yellow pulp and is rich in nutrients.

Roberto, the director of the program, has many years of experience in environmental conservation and provided the children with great explanations about the various plants and trees in a way that they could easily understand. After visiting the preserve, I traveled to another community outside of Valença. There is very little for children in this rural community to do during the winter season when all of the schools are closed (July). I saw youth standing around or sitting in the streets. Some of the children there had visited the nature preserve in the past and seemed very moved by there experience. Many of the children I saw asked Roberto about when they could go back (see photos below).

Salveaserra is forming a partnership with members of this community and others to engage the children and adults to make and maintain community gardens as well as gardens for individual families. With this new addition to the project, communities surrounding Valenca can contribute to protecting the environment and producing fresh, healthy food. This will also give the children who participate in the Trees and Education project continuity in environmental activities.

The Mata Atlantica is a beautiful area of Brazil that is in danger of being completely destroyed. SALVEASERRA is working to protect this area of natural beauty, and appreciates your continued support in order to do this!

SALVEASERRA is very excited that they were chosen for Neutrogena’s Wave for Change campaign. They need your vote! Vote today at http://www.neutrogena.com/category/wave+for+change.do

Melissa and I and children outside of Valença

Links:

Vote for SALVEASERRA in Neutrogena's Wave For Change Campaign

Project Update May 2011

Roberto Lamego — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:34:32 GMT

The bus arrives at school.

Dear donors and project friends,

Project “Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil” continues to take students to visit the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and to participate of the environmental education course “A Day in the Forest”. It is always a pleasure for us to offer these unique forest trekking that takes students out of their classrooms and gives them and their teachers a wonderful possibility to see Nature closely visiting a protected forest and also the agro-forestry demonstration areas. For most of these students it is the first time they visit a forest and it is for sure an unforgettable experience. After this day in the woods they will have a much better understanding of the environment and of the urgent need to keep these areas preserved in order to maintain the water sources and some important specimens of Brazilian wildlife.

Please see pictures of these schools here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Boblamego/GlobalGivingUpdateMay2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCN33g6uG_N3DCg#

I want to thank you all sincerely for your contributions and support and say that these donations are essential for our work and they keep us moving forward and spreading the sustainable development possibilities ideas that can change our communities and countries.

Thank you again and all the best,

Roberto Lamego

On the trail.

Talking to the students.

Inside the forest. Teacher speaking to students.

Most of the students never visited a forest.

The forest.

The old Mango tree.

The group preparing to walk back to the bus.

Update January 2011

Roberto Lamego — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:55:48 GMT

Dear donors and project friends,

Project “Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil” continues well and at this moment, as have school holidays, we have interrupted temporarily the “Day in the Forest” environmental education trail course. We will restart mid February. You will see at the links section, a Picasa slideshow and pictures of the last group that visited us.

During this time of the year, the rainy season, it is our planting season and we managed to put to the ground more than a 1500 seedlings of trees, palm trees, fruit trees and coffee plants. Please see the other Picasa slideshow of the 2010/2011 plantations at link 2.

One year ago in December 2010, we received at the Serra da Concordia Wildlife Sanctuary, the visit of a team of Canadian filmmakers that came to film my work for a documentary series called Architects of Change, that is, from their site, Architects of Change is a documentary series, in 10 episodes, that is visiting a new kind of pioneers. They are farmers, chemists, architects, doctors, tradesmen and bankers… These Architects of Change are looking for and practicing innovative solutions which counteract the threats weighing against our future. Far from being political or economical militants, they are, above all, entrepreneurs. They have decided to undertake a new way to have sustainable and lasting growth for mankind and our planet.
Do not miss the new season of Architects of Change and follow the stories of 30 new social entrepreneurs on Ushuaïa TV, RDI, TV5 Monde and TFO. Please visit their site here: http://www.architectsofchange.tv/.

The idea of this documentary series is to film nice stories and show beautiful pictures of good examples of projects that can make a change and that can be multiplied by other people in different parts of the world.

It was a great honor and gave me a lot of pride to participate of this documentary series, because, as you will see, many of the other chosen are people very well known worldwide, with enormous reputation (at least two Nobel Prizes) and with very important projects. Our project will appear in an episode called, in French, “Vers une Gestion Durable des Forêts”, or freely, “Towards the Sustainable Management of Forests”. For the moment it is only possible to watch them on TV, but I guess they will be available on DVDs soon. If you can, do not miss the chance to see incredible, beautiful and, most important, feasible ideas and projects. Please see the link 3 for a brief extract of the documentary about the project you are supporting. In French.

I want to thank you sincerely for your donations and support

All the best,

Roberto Lamego, Project Leader.

Links:

Update October 2010

Roberto Lamego — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 11:02:51 GMT

Students arriving for "A Day in the Forest" trail

Dear donors and project friends,

I would like to say that project “Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil” continues to spread its environmental activities and policies in Valença County and surroundings and to take local students and others to visit the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary where they participate of an environmental education course “A Day in the Forest”. For us it is always a pleasure to offer to the community these forests trails trekking that gives students and teachers a wonderful and unique possibility to see Nature closely by visiting a well protected forest and also the farm's agroforestry demonstration areas. For most of these students it is the first time they visit a forest and it is for sure an unforgettable experience. After this day in the woods they will have a much better understanding of the environment and of the urgent need to keep these areas preserved in order to maintain the water sources and important parts of Brazilian wildlife. These last two groups were of older students so we could have a deeper discussion on several environmental issues. In the first of these groups some journalists from the local newspaper came along the trail and we had a very nice article about our work on the weekly paper. Please see pictures of these groups here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Boblamego/GGUpdate092010Schools?authkey=Gv1sRgCOKtpuHDr_-SWg

The agroforestry systems experiments did not suffer very much this year of very dry and hot weather, because we irrigated great part of our trees and the rainy season came early this year. The danger of fire is gone. This year we are planning to plant some 3000 seedlings of trees, palm tree and fruit trees. As we still do not produce all the seedlings we need we will have to buy 2000 with the project donations.

Last month we received a group of 30 M.Sc. students in a Professional Organic Agriculture degree, sponsored by Federal Rural University and EMBRAPA Agrobiologic Research Center, that came to visit our agroforestry research center, the CETAR, Regional Agroforestry Technology Center, and see and study the already 10 years old partnership experiments that we have with EMBRAPA, the Brazilian Government Agriculture Research Office in our forests, in planting 3 different agroforestry systems models. Please see pictures of this visit here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Boblamego/GGUpdate092010EMPRAPAVisitors?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWO95Lj0sTDag

I want to thank you all sincerely for your donations and support and say these help us a lot do our work and to keep on moving forward, spreading the sustainable development possibilities and ideas that can change our communities and countries.

Thank you again and all the best,

Roberto Lamego, Project Leader

Concordia Mountains Wildlife Sanctary entrance

On the trail

Under the big and very old Mango tree

They can not resist and many climb this tree

A break near the mountain stream

The first group preparing to leave

This is the second group that visited the area

A stop to watch the landscape

Arriving at the Wildlife Sanctuary

Exploring nature

Students visiting the tree nursery

Students visiting agroforestry experiment

Another view of agroforestry experiment

Coming back from the stream

Second group preparing to leave

MSc. students arriving to visit Wildlife Sanctuary

First stop to see and study the landscape

EMBRAPA researchers, teachers and their students

Let's climb and see from the top of this hill

Going up

On the top

In a pasture where a magnificent forest exited

Explaining agroforestry planting systems

On the trail again

Visiting low cost tree nursery

Palm trees planted in agroforestry experiment

10 years ago Embrapa planted these 3500 trees

Update, June 2010

Roberto Lamego — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:08:29 GMT

See the happiness of our visitors

Dear donors and project friends, The project “Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil” continues to take local students to visit the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and to participate of the environmental education course “A Day in the Forest”. Please see some attached photos of the last group. For us it is always a pleasure to be able to do these walks and to have this wonderful and unique possibility to take students to visit our forest and the farm’s agroforestry demonstration areas. As you already know, for most of these students it is the first time they visit a forest and I can say that it is an unforgettable experience and I am sure that after this excursion they will have a much better understanding of the environment and the need of forests to maintain the water sources. You can see through their faces how much they like it. We continue the agroforestry systems experiments and the plants and trees are growing nicely, due the very good rain season we had this year. The dry season approaches and with the irrigation system we have now it will be possible to irrigate all the new plants that suffer very much during the dry period. This year we have planted again more than 2000 seedlings of trees, palm tree and fruit trees. I would like to say that without you support none of this would be possible and I am very grateful to all of you. Thank you. All the best, Roberto

On the trail

A Day in the Forest ecological tour

Group at the entrance of the Wildlife Sanctuary

It is the first time they visit a forest

On the trail we can discuss with them

A trail in the forest

The road to the Wildlife Sanctuary

For the teachers it is also a great experience

A bath on the creek before coming back

Update, February 2010

Roberto Lamego — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:04:20 GMT

The filming crew

Dear project donors and friends, last December, we had the visit of a film making team from Canada, working for Lato Sensu Productions that is preparing a documentary series entitled "Architects of change". As I said in the last project update, I was invited to participate in this series that has the aim to explain and highlight the possible solutions to many different environmental and social issues, through the examples of people and experiences that already apply sustainable development principles in their daily lives and work. They expect that these examples will give hope for the future and encourage other people to do something of their own to try to change and improve their lives and communities. Please visit this site to have a better idea of the project: http://www.filmsdocumentaires.com/portail/artisans.html. As this is the second series of documentaries, you can also see on this site, who has accepted the invitation for the first series: http://artisansduchangement.latosensu.tv/. For us it was an unique opportunity to be able to participate in this series and to have our projects chosen to be shown and broadcasted in France (TV5-Monde, Ushuaia TV) and Canada (Radio-Canada and TFO) and to know that talks are under way with Discovery Channel and NHK Japan as well as UNESCO. It was also a fantastic experience to follow, produce and work with this team of professional Canadian filmmakers. We will see these new series of documentaries in the beginning of 2011. Please see attached photos of the filming. We are preparing to start our field operations for 2010 with the local schools and as echo of the interest the “Day in the Forest” ecological guided tour in the city of Valença, it is possible that we will obtain some support from the Secretary of Education in order to establish a partnership with them to take this program to more schools in different parts of the County. The plantation season is almost over and we planted again some 2000 trees, palm trees and fruit trees, half of then bought with GlobalGiving donations. Thank you all for your support, donations and good wishes that make all this come true and possible. All the best, Roberto

Students on the road

Students, old tree and Canadians

Update December 2009

Roberto Lamego — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:04:04 GMT

Dear donors and project friends, I am glad to say that project “Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil” continues well and its sub projects and programs are in full expansion. As you know, we take School groups to visit the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary regularly to follow the environmental education course “A Day in the Forest”. You will see some photos of the last two groups. It is always a blessing and pleasure for us to be able to do this kind of programming and to have this wonderful possibility of taking these students to the forest and the agroforestry demonstration areas. You can see through their faces that it is delight for them. The new SALVEASERRA CARAVAN project has started its mission of taking information and to bring knowledge directly to the fields, upcountry to farmers, families and communities. We do presentations also for non rural groups. We are now in the middle of the planting season and we have already planted some 800 seedlings of many different species of trees, fruit trees and palm trees. We have also bought 1200 other saplings with some donations money and some more will still be acquired this year. I want to communicate to donors that I was invited to participate, now in December, of the second series of documentaries on sustainable development called "Architects of change", and produced by a Canadian-French team. http://www.pvp.ca/. Each series will feature 3 "Architects of change" from different cultures and economic sectors from all over the world and the aim of the series is to explain and highlight solutions to environmental and social issues, presented through people who already apply sustainable development principles in their daily lives and work. This documentary series will be broadcaster worldwide. Of course that I am very much honored and proud to be among one of the "Architects of change" and I hope that the examples of what we are doing here in Valença, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, can show that it is possible to change the ways of dealing, caring and treating our planet Earth, and mainly to encourage other people to do their own changes and have their own projects to improve their lives, communities, countries, all over the World. I will show then what we do here: 1. the 3 agroforestry systems experimental areas and the coffee under shade plantations, 2. the "Day in the Forest" ecological guided tour we offer to municipal public school students, 3. the irrigated organic vegetable gardens donation project, Project Oasis, 4. the SALVEASERRA Caravan Project meant to bring information and to take knowledge to rural and urban communities, and two of the training courses we offer to local communities, in this case, one of how to make a good vegetable garden a another one on banana plant fiber handcrafting. Thank you all those contribute to make this project possible and please see bellow the invitation letter and some links to documentary trailers. Roberto Lamego, director.

Documentary on sustainable development Dear Mr. Roberto Lamego, I am writing you today to find out if you would be interested and available to participate in a documentary series on sustainable development. Last year, the French TV producer Lato Sensu and the Productions Vic Pelletier from Canada, co-produced a documentary series entitled "Architects of change". And we now currently working on the second season. The documentary series consists of 10 X 52 minutes episodes, each featuring 3 "Architects of change" from different cultures and economic sectors all over the world. Again, the series will be broadcasted in France (TV5-Monde, Ushuaia TV) and Canada (Radio-Canada and TFO). Talks are under way with Discovery Channel and NHK Japan as well and UNESCO is one of our partners. The aim of the series is to explain and highlight solutions to environmental and social issues, presented through people who already apply sustainable development principles in their daily lives. We discovered your work as the founder of SALVEASERRA and would be honored to count you among our "Architects of change". Individuals such as you give hope for the future and encourage people to do something of their own. Please let me know if you are interested in participating in this series. We plan to film between November 2009 and April 2010. You can go on this site so you will have a better idea of our project: http://www.filmsdocumentaires.com/portail/artisans.html And on our site, you will see who have accepted our invitation last year: http://artisansduchangement.latosensu.tv/ All the best, Geneviève Bougie Scénariste-Writer Les Artisans du changement (Architects of change) Les Productions Vic Pelletier inc. Pleae see also at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMvbh8D8aeo http://www1.radio-canada.ca/emissions/les_artisans_du_changement/

A Postcard from Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil

Marisa Glassman — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:33:34 GMT

Marisa Glassman is GlobalGiving's Business Development Manager. She recently traveled throughout Brazil and visited a number of GlobalGiving projects. On May 4th she visited "Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil." When asked what she would tell her friends about this project, Marisa said: "Great: They are making a difference."

"With just a short time in as large a country as Brazil, I was afraid I wouldn´t be able to see enough of the country. And while I´ll almost certainly never be able to see as much as I´d like to, today´s visit to Roberto Lamego´s forest in Valença gave me a welcome complement to all of the city-based work I´ve seen. Now I can leave Brazil happy. While finding a way to get there was tricky to say the least, I can´t imagine this trip being complete had I not been able to go. The forest I visited was a two-hour drive outside of Rio de Janeiro city, where most of the land is now rolling hills where vast forests once stood. When man cleared the land to plant coffee trees and other produce, the forests were decimated. And although the crops thrived for a short time, they eventually disappeared because the land could not maintain them without the cover and moisture the forest had provided. Left with almost nothing, most local residents turned to other uses for their land, such as cow farming. With many animals throughout the area, the forests have not been able to grow back.

"On a plot of this land, Roberto Lamego´s family had a farm. The land was eventually abandoned while Roberto was living abroad, but he decided to return to Brazil to try and salvage it. Since 1993, Roberto has planted hundreds of thousands of trees and other crops on his family´s land, and his forest now thrives among the surrounding barren hills. With proper care and attention, he and his dedicated staff, who live on the forest grounds Monday through Friday, have grown a forest which not only houses tall trees such as palm trees, which will no longer grow on their own in most of the surrounding area, but also houses crops such as passion fruit, mangoes, limes, coffee, and various other fruits I wish I could spell in English - some of which I tasted right off the trees.

"Once or twice every month, Roberto brings a school bus full of local children to the forest to learn about the landscape and work he and his coworkers have done. He realizes the community´s immediate need for income, and thus conveys the message that, not only does his forest help preserve the land, but provides a sustainable way to produce crops for many years by giving them the environment they need to thrive. It is often an uphill battle against a government that does not share his goals and local community members whose immediate financial needs make it difficult to maintain the long-term outlook necessary to follow Roberto´s methodology. But Roberto´s will and conviction make his efforts less of a choice than a natural path. I am so thankful I was able to visit the forest with a diverse group of local students who were also visiting for the first time. Their enthusiasm and curiosity were wonderful to see, and although the language barrier between us didn´t allow us to communicate fully, we did manage to find the one thing that saved us all from some unnecessary itching: the citronella plant Roberto showed us, which luckily is the same word in English and Portuguese."

"A Day in the Forest" Ecological Trekking

End of planting season.

Roberto Lamego — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:44:28 GMT

Agroforestry plots and tree corridor.

Dear donors and project friends, once again thank you for your support and donations that makes all this possible.

As we are about to finish our year plantation operations we want to share with you what we are do with our forests and the donated seedlings. Since 1995, SALVEASERRA recovers forests with agroforestry plantations methods in an effort to attract and convince economically land owners and cattle ranchers to protect the environment with the use of these ecological and economical possibilities that brings profits to them and avoids deforestation. As farmers have very little information about these agricultural techniques and procedures, our pilot demonstration areas are used in courses and field training programs to show students and land owners that it is possible to preserve the forest, protect biodiversity and obtain income doing things like we do. We add value to the forest with our planting methods. All the work starts at the tree nursery and our nursery produces low cost seedlings and costs very little to maintain since it was built under the forest shade and with local materials. We have produced countless seedlings since we started planting and when we buy seedlings they are brought here until definitive planting. From the nursery the seedlings are taken to a place near the plantation areas and then separated by species before planting. Each tree species is planted in its best appropriate ecosystem condition. In our plantations, trees, palm trees and fruit trees are planted in squares that have 3 or 4 meters sides and a great quantity of new plants can be introduced in a small area. This year we opened three new areas for different agroforestry system planting plots. In two of them timber trees were mainly planted and the other one was directed to fruit trees. Remember that when you plant agroforestry systems you never stop planting and there is always room to plant something else in the same area. All plants must have an economical and ecological interest to be there and because these areas are ecologically balanced areas there are no pest attacks and ants are a rarely problem.

But maybe this is the easy part of the act of planting trees as people always forget that if we want these baby trees to become mature trees they have to be inspected and cared for at least 2 times a year and during 4 years. If you don't do this, there is an enormous chance that these very fragile seedlings will die, be it by drought, by fire, eaten by ants, crushed by branches or tree trunks, swallowed by lust vegetation or stepped up by cows. What I want to say is and it is absolutely necessary to have this always in mind, is that for at least 4 years, it is not possible to abandon these young trees after they are planted otherwise many plants will not survive and this international effort in resources and manpower to aid the environment will be useless and meaningless. I am very much concerned with this plant abandon situation because I have witnessed this happen many times here in Brazil and I would not like to see this happen with GlobalGiving Green so dearly donated trees. Donor must consider that in many situations one dollar one tree is not enough to make this sapling become a big, mature and reproductive tree. I am writing this update in the middle of GlobalGiving's fundraising campaign, “Give a Little Green" and you can be sure that if you want to contribute, every extra dollar our project can obtain from this campaign will become a nice tree, timber, palm tree or fruit tree. Who knows if some time donors will be able to visit the planting areas and plant a few trees with their hands?

Thank you all very much and all the best,

Roberto Lamego

Inside tree corridor with coffee plants.

4 years old agroforestry plantation.

GlobalGiving 1911 update. March 2009

Roberto Lamego — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:12:04 GMT

Preparing to walk 12 kilometers

Dear donors and project friends, first of all I want to thank all donors for the donations that makes this project "Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil" possible. As you know, our objectives are to teach and educate farmers, students, local citizens and communities to preserve and restore the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil, with the use of sustainable forest farming methods. With this we hope they will adopt new attitudes and practices towards the environment and nature. Walk in Nature. Every year the Serra da Concordia Wildlife Sanctuary is opened to the community for a non-competitive walking event called “Walk in the Nature” that is sponsored by SALVEASERRA, our NGO and ANDABRASIL, the Brazilian local representative of IML Walking Association, a non-political, non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote walking as a worthwhile and healthy ecological recreation, and to foster understanding and goodwill by encouraging participation at walking events in countries through a program of incentive awards. This is accomplished by promoting national and local one day non-competitive walking events. This is the fourth time the 12 kilometers Serra da Concordia Circuit takes place and we had 128 walkers this time. It takes about 2 hours to arrive to our base. To enrich the day, a lecture about the importance of the preservation of the forests and its importance and relation with the water, was once more empathized to our visitors. Please see attached photos. Ongoing projects: we are about to reopen this year school groups visiting program to the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary where students follow the environmental education course called “A Day in the Forest” and the new SALVEASERRA CARAVAN project is starting with its mission of taking the information, self-consciousness and knowledge we want to spread directly were it is needed in the fields, upcountry to farmers, families and communities. More news soon. Please also see at: http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2300/proj2239a.html, for more information of the Vegetable Gardens donation program. Thank you all for your support and donations. Roberto Lamego

Forest trail

Visitors attending lecture

First 2009 project update

Roberto Lamego — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:31:30 GMT

Arrival of the students group.

Project report - February, 2009 Dear donors and project friends, first of all I want to thank all generous donors that made "Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil" project to be classified among the top 5 in bringing in donations as shows a GlobalGiving January made study. Thank you for your confidence in our work and in 2009 we will have more. As you know our objectives are teaching and educating farmers, students, local citizens and communities to preserve and restore the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil with the use of sustainable forest farming methods and adopting new attitudes towards the environment. We show them ways to protect and recover the landscape, the water and the wildlife, searching means to enhance rural earnings. This year we have already planted part of this season trees, fruit trees and palm trees, we are still going to plant more and we expect to plant 3.000. Many seedlings were from our local production and we bought more with resources from SALVEASERRA/GlobalGiving Fund and a GlobalGiving Green donor. This year school groups will continue to visit the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary to follow our environmental education program “A Day in the Forest” in a mountain environment, seeing its biodiversity and noticing the importance of the water sources. They will also visit the agroforestry plantations at the Agroforestry Educational Center. These visits will take place two or three times per month and are sponsored by the SALVEASERRA/GLOBALGIVING Fund cover all the costs. Please see attached pictures of the last group that came to our mountain in December 2008. This year we are starting a new phase of our project with the creation of the SALVEASERRA CARAVAN, that will be a way to take the knowledge we want to spread directly were it is needed in the fields, upcountry to farmers, families and communities. The SALVEASERRA CARAVAN will transport knowledge and new ideas, bring back wisdom, experiences and students to our home base and will settle "Small Family Oasis" along the way. A "Small Family Oasis" is a place where families with water for irrigation can live all year round, planting their food, producing goods for the market, with permanent jobs and occupation. You will hear more from this project soon. This new project will also be sponsored by the SALVEASERRA/GlobalGiving Fund, where all the donations go. Thank you all for your support and donations that make all this possible. Roberto Lamego

The group inside the forest

Water is a subject of conversation.

Project report

Roberto Lamego — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:47:06 GMT

The agronomist teaching farm workers how to apply organic fertil

Dear donors and project friends,

"Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil" project continues steadily its course developing the objectives of teaching and educating farmers, students, local citizens and communities to preserve and restore the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil with the use of sustainable forest farming methods and adopting new attitudes towards the environment. We show them ways to protect and recover the landscape, the water and the wildlife, always searching means to enhance rural earnings. At the Wildlife Sanctuary it is time for the 2008/9 season to plant trees, fruit trees and palm trees and we are going to plant more than 2.000 seedlings this year. Besides our local production of seedlings, we are buying with resources from the SALVEASERRA/GLOBALGIVING Fund, $1000 of seedlings from different and rare tree species from a nearby tree nursery. We are at present finishing the fertilizing of the organic coffee plantation of the Shaded Coffee Tree Corridor project. School groups continue to visit the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary to learn about the mountain environment, its biodiversity and importance for water production. They also visit the agroforestry plantation plots at the CETAR, our Agroforestry Education Center. For most, it is the first time they visit a forest and see a water source. This week another group of more than 30 students and teachers from a local Municipal School came to visit us and attend the environment education program called “A Day in the Forest”. These visits normally take place two or three times per month and are sponsored by the SALVEASERRA/GLOBALGIVING Fund that invites them and rents the bus for this trip. Please see attached photos. Thank you all for your support and donations that make all this possible. Roberto Lamego

Walking fast to arrive first in the forest.

The school group.

Project 1911 update. September 2008. Things are growing, plants and ideas.

Roberto Lamego — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:12:39 GMT

Watering coffee plant

Dear donors and Project friends.

I am glad to say that the “Trees and Education Protect Rainforest in Brazil” project is running smoothly and that the plants and the ideas are growing steadily. I feel that slowly people are beginning to understand and to be more aware of the gravity of the local environmental and water situation that is taking hundreds of rural families out of their land into the cities and some to misery, poverty and crime. The agroforestry trees in the new planted areas and the coffee plantations are now irrigated with a recently installed system that brings water from the mountain stream. Please see pictures of palm trees plantation and of irrigation of coffee plants.

School groups are visiting the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary to spend their day in the forest and also to learn about Agroforestry technology at our Agroforestry Education Center, as did this last group of 34 students that came from a regional Agricultural State School to visit us. This “Day in the Forest” activity was sponsored by the SALVEASERRA/GLOBALGIVING Fund. See project 2239 for fund explanation and the pictures of this students group visit in Photo Gallery.

It is important to say that the project for the donation of irrigated vegetable gardens we started in the beginning of this year was separated from this one and now is on the list of GlobalGiving projects with the title: Provide Vegetable Gardens for Families in Brazil, project 2239.

Thank you all for your support and donations.

Roberto Lamego, director.

Palm trees for "heart of palm" production

Students from Technical Agricultural School

Project update. July 2008

Roberto Lamego — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:38:58 GMT

Our tree nursery

Dear donors and Project friends.

We continue to look after our agroforestry systems experiments and of the new “coffee under shade” plantation. Everything is growing nicely as we had a very good rain season this year. The dry season approaches and we just finish installing a new irrigation system that will enable to water with our mountain sources, all the new plants that suffer very much during the dry period, that every year seems worst. We will lose much less seedlings now and we can irrigate our coffee and fruit trees. With the dry season we started again to receive school groups to visit the Concordia Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and spend their day in the forest. See pictures in Photo Gallery. At the Wildlife Sanctuary, we are preparing 4 tree days courses called “An immersion in the Atlantic Rainforest”, that will take place during this winter, two in August and two in September. Each course will be for 20 students and they will spend these three days living by a forest and feeling and learning its relationship with water production, climate and Biodiversity. They will also see the agroforestry solutions we propose to recover economically the forests and deforested land. These environmental awareness courses are offered to our community by a Fund that SALVEASERRA created with part of GlobalGiving donations. These donations are paying for 75% of the courses costs. This Fund makes also possible our Donation Program Project that is at this moment ending the implantation the first Irrigated Organic Vegetable Garden donated to a needed family. We expect that 3 persons can immediately work from this vegetable garden and we hope that in one year from now four families will feed and live from there, as this garden will also produce surplus vegetables and fruit for the local organic food market. This project will produce fish and ducks in the irrigation reservoir and possibly chicken in the same area. We are looking for another person to receive a second donation. For the moment we still do not have any Tree Nursery, the other donation possibility, in sight. See Photo Gallery for the first vegetable garden plantation and the water reservoir pavement work.

Thank you all for the donations that are making possible these good things happen in this Brazilian part of the Atlantic Rainforest region.

Roberto Lamego, director.

Valença School Group visits Wildlive Sanctuary

First planted vegetable beds and water reservoir

First 2008 update.

Roberto Lamego — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:49:55 GMT

2008 trees plantation

Dear donors and project friends, in this first report we send this year we are very glad to say that the development of our agroforestry plantations continues and that more than 2000 trees, palm trees and fruit trees were planted this season. Of those, many were bought with GlobalGiving donations. See photos of 2008 plantations in Photo Gallery. We started the “Coffee under Shade” plantation project and already planted 2.864 coffee plants. There are still some 1500 coffee seedlings to be planted latter this year. Just to remember, this project is a partnership with EMBRAPA, the Brazilian Government Agricultural Research Agency and our plantation is one of the first examples of a new farming activity that can be very important to our region because it brings economic and social development to many poor and today not very stimulated farmers. See photos of the first coffee plantations. SALVEASERRA has a new project running that was and is possible to exist because we are using part of GlobalGiving donations we receive to open our own Donation Program Project. This new Donation Project will donate: 1. Irrigated Organic Vegetable Garden to needed families and 2. Tree Nurseries for local rural associations and communities. At this moment, the first vegetable garden is being donated to a much help needed Land-Less farmer. Now, in his settlement and portion of land, 4 will work and we hope that in one year from now four families will feed from this vegetable garden. This project produces also fish and ducks in the irrigation reservoir. See Photo Gallery for the first vegetable garden donation and first works pictures. Soon it will be possible to see this vegetable garden donation project because a film was recently made by Petra Dilthey and Uli Schwarz, a German moviemaking team. It will be visible at GlobalGiving site. We want to thank them for their very precise work when filming our project. Now with the end of the rainy season, we begin to receive visitors to the Wildlife Sanctuary and to promote training courses and technical visits for students. You will have pictures in the next update. Thank you again for these donations that are making possible many good things happen in this Brazilian Rainforest region so full of problems. You are helping a lot. Roberto Lamego, director.

2008 Coffe under Shade plantation

Irrigation tank. Water, fish and ducks

New year new projects.

Roberto Lamego — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:42:17 GMT

Coffee plantation

New Year new projects.

In 2008 we continue to develop our agroforestry plantation activities and we are planting more than 2000 seedlings this year, some produced locally and about 500 bought with GlobalGiving donations. We are also starting a new “Coffee under Shade” plantation project that can be very useful for other Forest Corridors projects and planting 5.000 coffee plants. This project is in a partnership with EMBRAPA, the Brazilian Government Agricultural Research Agency. And, most important, with part of GlobalGiving donations we are starting our own donation program, donating irrigated organic vegetable gardens for poor communities and tree nurseries for local rural associations. See photo gallery for the first vegetable garden donation.

Happy New Year to all of us.

Roberto Lamego

Coffee seedlings

Attachments:

SALVEASERRA document (PDF)