The Wildlife Corridors Programme

We’ve received some very impressive drone pictures of some of our restoration areas. They show very clearly the significant progress that has been made over the last two or three years. 

In as little as three years, this restored area in the north corridor’s Sao Paulo farm (above) has connected two large remaining fragments of the Atlantic Forest. The left image shows the area in September 2021 and the right in January 2023, now a 3km long stretch of green. It will provide a new migration route to help black lion tamarins, which are known to be present in the northerly fragment, to spread and thrive.

We’ve also got the first sound samples from our collaboration with Rainforest Connection (RFCx), in which 120 audio devices have been monitoring bird and animal species in sampling points in our restored areas, as well as in the existing forest fragments and agricultural areas. 

So far, the sounds of 178 species have been detected in the sampling sites: 166 birds, 8 frogs, 2 mammals and 2 insects, 4 of which are listed as threatened according to IUCN’s Red List. 

Analysis by RFCx shows that bird species richness was higher in forested and restoration sites than in farming sites, indicating that restoration sites are promoting a positive effect on biodiversity, providing breeding and foraging habitats, and/or connectivity stepping stones for a large portion of the bird community. This is very encouraging, suggesting that even though our restoration sites are still in the early stages of development, they are already functioning more like forest habitat than adjacent farmland, providing habitat to many species associated with protected forests. 

Thank you for making this possible!

Hey there 

I'm Liz, WeForest's Corporate Partnership Development Manager. I’ve recently returned from a super inspiring visit to our Wildlife Corridors programme in Brazil which I can't wait to tell you about. 

Seeing first-hand the devastating effects agricultural farming has had on the Atlantic Forest really brought home to me just how important the work is that we are doing here.

Because of the wonderful generosity of you and other donors, we have now exceeded the 2 million tree mark in this incredibly biodiverse biome! Thank you, thank you, thank you :)

Restoring such a diverse forest landscape isn't easy. The level of detail that goes into the process from sourcing and storing the seeds to planting and caring for the seedlings in the nurseries before they are finally planted in the wild is truly mind blowing! With over 120 different tree species all with different needs, there's some serious planning required to ensure these trees not only survive but thrive for the long term. 

By restoring forests strategically, we’re also helping animals to have a better chance of survival. Trees are planted to create wildlife corridors which join remaining forest fragments together, giving species larger areas to roam and breed and guess what .......it's working!!!

Whilst visiting an area restored around 8 years ago by our partner AES, we had the great (and very rare) privilege of seeing a puma using these forests! Check out the video on the youtube link to see the puma entering the young forest! 

This year, WeForest is participating in GlobalGiving’s Giving Tuesday incentive. This 24-hour campaign takes place on 29th November, a global day of giving celebrated by nonprofits, corporations, and donors alike!

GlobalGiving is offering a $1,200,000 incentive fund to organizations who receive the most funding on the day so we're super excited to see what WeForest can achieve with your help.

Without your kind donations none of this would be possible, so thank you once again from all of us here at WeForest and of course Patsy (the puma)

Links:

• Puma entering a restoration area, Tiete