Reforesting the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil

Over this rainy season, we have switched to phase two of monitoring of our large scale 30-hectare reforestation effort. As you may know by our previous reports, reforestation is not just planting trees: there is a large effort behind the supply chain of seedlings and tools, analysis, designation and preparation of the areas, planting, and monitoring and replanting replacing seedlings that did not survive. 

As of september when the rains start in the Mata Atlantica, we have been working hard to assess and replant, bringing in our main team, a few part time workers and volunteers. We will continue to do this, along with maintenance of fences and firebreaks for the next three years, until the trees are strong enough to survive on their own.

In the future, we hope to be able to measure carbon sinking and other ecosystem services! A huge thank you to everyone who was supported our reforestation work - your help has impacted positively on biodiversity, soil health, carbon storage and job creation!

Stay tuned for more updates on our progress!

Over the course of the past few months, during the dry season, we have focused most of our energy on creating and maintaing firebreaks around all our reforestation sites.

During the dry season there is always a possibility of fires and we need to stay alert and with our fire protocols working smoothly. This season we had one scare but our team responded rapidly.

Firebreaks are strips were all vegetation is removed along 2 mts on either side of the fenced reforestation sites so the flames can't jump over. They are labor intensive, so your support is essential to keep our reforestation safe. Thank you to all our donors!

Please consider sharing with your friends too, as we are coming into the rainy season and we begin another round of planting!

Stay tuned for more stories.

This year we have began to work on one of our most ambitious projects for Green Belt of Rio de Janeiro yet: the Recôncavo da Guanabara long distance trail! Its 100kms, crossing through several public and private conservation units.

The trail is a collective effort that aims to bring attention to the natural beauty and wealth of the Atlantic Rainforest surrounding Rio. Together with the local community, we seek to promote community-based ecotourism (such as camping sites and museums that recover the history of the region) and to develop a local economy based on entrepreneurship and the regeneration of forest biodiversity. Some possibilities are regional cuisine, guided trails and sports like paragliding. The name of the trail itself, refers to the 18th and 19th century historical name for the larger Guanabara region, bringing attention to important historical landmarks of the Baixada Verde, the periphery around Rio de Janeiro.

We are very grateful for our donors support, who help us restore our land and even go the extra mile, creating programs that enable other guardians of the forest to find ways to protect this critical area!

Stay tuned to our reports, we will be sharing photos and project updates!

In all our years working to regenerate this ecosystem, we have learned that onboarding community members is key to a lasting impact and true transformation. 

As we have advanced our reforestation efforts, we have come to learn how much one of our areas is beloved by the community as an outdoor activity spot. People from around the area come here for mountain biking, enduro, hiking and even paragliding! 

We are certain that cultivating a love for the outdors and sharing the beauty of the top of our Rio View trail will help us create a network of guardians of our reforestation efforts. This is why last month we co-organized an event with the association of paragliders, where we celebrated our outdoor culture and planted trees together with representatives of many different tribes that enjoy Rio View. 

Together, we committed to the preservation of our natural environment and the reforestation effort - which was landscaped around trails and the take-off point for paragliding. We hope Rio View will be a reference of regenerative tourism for Rio and Brazil! 

Thank you to our donors who support us in this multidisciplinary effort to bring back the forest. We will keep you updated as our seedlings grow!

In the last months, in our reforestation project we have managed to plant 6.000 seedlings of native trees of the Mata Atlantica in 4 hectares of SINAL!

For our project, we are using 4 different reforestation techniques according to the characteristics of each plot of land. In these 4 hectares, the technique chosen to reforest was Total Planting because of the state of degradation of the land, as there were very little trees and the soil was quite eroded.
We are very excited to develop this project, because we are creating an innovative model. We are testing models that are flexible enough to allow for different income possibilities, within activities our neighbors practice. For example, we plan to:
1. include in the reforestation design ecotourism attractions, such as trails for bikes and hiking; and
2. allow the presence of cows to live there and coexist with the trees, through monitored holistic grazing.

We would like to thank our donors for giving us the opportunity to experiment and expand a model where people, animals and nature coexist in a sustainable way!
We will keep you posted as the project progresses!