Forests4Water Brazil: Community Climate Action

Dear wonderful donors and partners,

We hope you are all doing well and staying away from covid?

This week we have a couple of interesting news items to share with you, because neither of them would have happened without your ongoing support to our forestry project. Thank you, thank you!

Let's start with the name of our project. Forests4Water. Last week we had an ecstatic contact from one of the local farmers Rosilene. She wanted us to know that, thanks to our reforestry efforts, her spring which had completely dried up, is running again. And – we are in the middle of the dry season!

We can't attach a video to this letter but here is a screenshot from the video she sent.

And yes, this is the object of the reforestation project – protect and restore water resources. But it’s so exciting when we can show the results!

Now for the second news item. In a small community like this, news travels fast, and for some time we’ve been attempting to create partnerships with local business and raise awareness over the importance of protecting the extraordinary forest in which we are lucky enough to live. It’s a slow process, particularly in view of other priorities such as covid, lockdowns and economic downturns. So we were especially happy to host a visit from nineteen staff members of the local cooperative bank which has decided to put its money where its mouth is and take active steps to offset their carbon footprint.

Since our mountains and forests shelter an important watershed that directly serves thousands of downstream water users, protecting water sources is an important place to start.  So we spent a happy day showing them the Iracambi campus, taking them on a forest trail, and explaining the nuts and bolts of reforestry. We then took them to visit a neighboring property where they were able to understand the critical importance of protecting water resources, and also see the spring that they are in the process of adopting. 

We are so excited to see the growing interest among the local business community of the importance of ecosystem restoration and we look forward to raising more awareness and recruiting more partners. Nothing succeeds like success! 

So once again, we want to send you a big thank you for your help and support. We'll keep you posted. 

With love and appreciation from the Iracambi Forestry Team.

PS In response to a pointed comment from that group, we are installing a carbon counter on our website!

PPS We've also been busy interviewing for the post of project coordinator. We had a lot of interest and in our next letter we´ll introduce you to the newest member of the team.....  .

Dear donors and partners,

We hope you are well, and for those of you currently experiencing heat waves, we send cooling breezes from the forest.

As we continue our work of seed collection, nursery expansion and caring for the crop of seedlings that we are readying for the planting season in October/November, parts of the world are suffering from record heatwaves. The Pacific Northwest of the US has been experiencing temperatures 20C higher than normal. Pavement is buckling, trolley car cables are melting, wildfires are breaking out, snows are melting. Temperatures this week hit record highs across Europe and even into the Arctic Circle.

The climate won't wait! Which is why we are redoubling our efforts to scale up our planting. Do more and better. Hire a new forestry coordinator. Keep spreading the word through our education courses.

Planting trees by itself won't solve the climate crisis. Global citizens need to come together to curb emissions, modify our consumption and spending habits, and start the great clean up– employing nature based solutions while there is still time.

Nature based solutions. What are they and how do they affect the climate?

Sustainably managing and restoring damaged ecosystems. So, whether its food security, climate change, water security, human health, disaster risk or economic development, nature can help us find a way.

The most cost-effective, most efficient, most scalable way of cleaning up carbon from our atmosphere is through planting trees. And growing numbers of people across the world are getting the message. 

Here at Iracambi, and thanks to your amazing support, we´re on the case. And as you can see, we've spent the past couple of weeks on intensive seed collection in the forest. As you know, this is only the beginning of the tree journey - collecting, identifying, sorting, cleaning and then germinating and planting. 

A nature-based solution. And we´re doing it together. Thank you! 

 with love from Alfredo, Deivid, Averaldo and the Iracambi Tree Planters.