Forests4Water Brazil: Community Climate Action

Hello there, dear supporters and donors, 

I can't BELIEVE how late I am with this update, please forgive me. 

No excuses, but life has been happening. You know how that goes, right?  I've been on protracted sick leave, and when that happens there's extra work for everybody. But I'm happy to say that all is well now - thanks for asking! 

While I was off my colleagues have heroically handled all their regular jobs: preparing the planting sites, looking after the seedlings in the nursery, and trying to keep on top of data collection, storage and comms. Inevitably a few things got overlooked, and one of them was our letters from the field. Please accept our deepest apologies! 

So here's a taste of what's been happening in the forest and beyond since we last spoke. 

First there was our amazing visit to China to participate in a rainforest conference. And I'll be honest with you. I hadn't associated China with rainforests. But they have magnificent forests in Xishuangbanna (Sheeshwangbanna,) in southern Yunnan, near the Thai border, with an extrardinary variety of flora and fauna, including one of the last remaining populations of Asian elephants. A week there in the company of nearly two thousand tropical biologists, and we left with new passion for the work that people across the world are doing to support the planet.  

And that wasn't all. Our Chinese partners then whisked us off into the mountains to see the restoration work they are doing with some of the local ethnic groups, restoring landscapes and caring for the famous five hundred year old tea trees. So exciting to compare tips and techniques, and see the ancient forests being restored.  

Meanwhile, back at Iracambi, there was a lot going on. Our team held community workshops on distilling aromatic oils, making jewelry from organic materials such as seeds, leaves and natural fibers, collecting native species seeds and establishing on-farm community nurseries. This week we're hosting our monitoring group to do an in-depth evaluation of 42 acres of young forests, measuring canopy cover, seedling loss and natural regeneration.

We're also negotiating the purchase of an area of land funded by corporate partners with the objective of restoring the forest as part of an ecological corridor linking restored areas with existing protected forests. Another exciting development - we've been accepted onto the 1% for the Planet platform where over 4000 companies pledge to donate 1% of their annual turnover to support environmental causes.  

So here's just a quick resume of life at Iracambi and beyond. Thank you, thank you for your interest and support. Between us, we're getting it done. 

With love and appreciation, 

Binka, Guilherme and the Iracambi team 

PS a quick headsup.  Our next update will be coming from Armenia where Iracambi will be participating in the UN Biodiversity meetings at COP17!