Aerial drone footage of part of the wildlife corridors that are being restored in Brazil. These corridors bring safe passage to many wild animals in an area that has lost much forest coverage. Video courtesy of WeForest.
Location: Teodoro Sampaio, Sao Paulo State, Brazil
Through WeForest and its local partner, we collaborate to restore the Atlantic rainforest's biodiversity in the region of Pontal do Paranapanema, where only 3% of the original forest cover remains. The project aims to convert 20% of landowners' farmlands into forest lands, through the regeneration of degraded forest lands via planting and assisted natural regeneration techniques. The regenerated forests will be registered as Legal Forest Reserves or Areas of Permanent Protection (APP) for freshwater recharge.
The vision is to grow forest corridors between the remaining patches of highly-fragmented Atlantic rainforests and ultimately re-connecting the Morro do Diablo State Park to the Iguaçu National Park. Despite the destruction of the Atlantic rainforest, this remains one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, home of endemic species. This project directly supports the migration of endangered species. It indirectly contributes to their conservation and offers huge potential in terms of carbon sequestration. The project also helps local women, who are highly involved in the planting work and project's design and management.
The Atlantic Forest of Brazil - where our tree-planting partners WeForest are restoring precious wildlife corridors - is home to one of South America's most charismatic species: the jaguar. This forest has an unusually high level of biodiversity and is home to a large number of species that are found no nowhere else in the world. It has also suffered severe levels of deforestation and is now down to 8% of the Atlantic Forest still stands. The loss of forests is not only a problem for our climate, but for jaguars and other large carnivores as well who are at risk of extinction due to loss of their habitat.
Want to know more about this project? Please click below for more information.
By Sophie Jane Mortimer-Hardy
By Lauriane Cayet-Boisrobert with editting fom Jessica Chalmers of WeForest