Plant For The P l a n e t , B r a z i l J u l y 2 0 1 6 1 TREE PLANTING IN BRAZIL CONTEXT AND KEY INFORMATION PROJECT ACTIVITIES I N 2 0 1 6 NEXT STEPS 2 SUMMARY Environmental awareness and watercourse restoration TYPE Water conservation, Biodiversity and Education LOCAL PARTNER Nordesta Reforestation and Education Association BENEFICIARIES Landowners and civil society from the São Francisco river basin as well as other river basins MAIN THEMES - Restoration of riparian forests (forests lands adjacent to watercourses) initially located at the higher and medium high lands of the São Francisco river basin, now expanded to other river basins; - Environmental awareness concerning the need to restore and preserve forests for water quality and quantity maintenance. REACHED OBJECTIVES 449,812 trees planted from 2009 to 2016 « Casca d’Anta » waterfall at the Canastra National Park 3 LOCAL PARTNER “ N O R D E S TA Reflorestamento e E d u c a ç ã o ” NORDESTA Reforestation and Education is a Swiss NGO created by the ornithologist Anita Studer in 1985 to preserve Brazilian tropical forests. In 2005, Anita travelled to Minas Geras and that’s when she took the decision of creating a reforestation project at the highlands of the São Francisco river basin in Brazil. During her travel, she met Neuza Falco Galvão who created the NORDESTA NGO at Arcos (MG) and at the same time, the nursery. Since then, almost 500’000 trees were planted and thanks to that, the fauna and flora recovery is impressive. The presence of several animals amongst mammals, birds, reptiles and others healthy ecosystems indicators are observed. Add to that, compared to the project baseline, the region has clearly improved the water sources management. Such areas are of keen interest to the recovery of the São Francisco river and for the conservation of the National Canastra Park. The São Francisco river is certainly one of the most symbolic and relevant brazilian rivers, as it runs through the semi-arid North-Est region. In parallel to the field work, NORDESTA has an important role in spreading the word on natural resources conservation and awareness raising amongst the population surrounding the planting areas. Through the years, thanks to the excellent work and the regional media broadcast of the project’s impacts, the organization has gained a regional legitimacy. At almost all levels - as presented in the graphic on the right - NORDESTA scores high, reaching a high level of quality and positive impacts. 4 MAIN OBJECTIVES Tw o k e y workstreams : planting and teaching ‒ Plant several native trees species adapted to the local ecosystems and micro-climate ‒ Contribute to conservation of essential resources as soil and water ‒ Contribute to farming improvement by providing local productive fruit trees BIODIVERSITY S U P P O R T & ‒ Support the restoration of Permanent Preservation Areas and in consequence the CONSERVATION enforcement of the Brazilian Forestry Code ‒ Contribute to the restoration of both private and public lands ‒ Increase resilience to climate change meanwhile reducing Greenhouse gases emissions ‒ Build awareness about natural resources conservation, notably the relevance of protecting water sources, soil and other vital resources EDUCATION & ‒ Inform and build awareness amongst children and adults AWARENESS ‒ Provide the possibility for urban people and corporate staff to experiment the contact with nature by planting trees or others specific trainings as vegetable gardening in small places 5 RESTORING WATERCOURSES The starting point: São Francisco river basin, Minas G e r a i s The reforestation activities started in the region of the High São Francisco river basin, the “Velho Chico” as the river is kindly called in Brazil. Its name comes from the fact that Américo Vespucio in 1501 arrived in the sources of the river at the patron saint’s Francisco day. Afterwards the project activities were expanded to the medium Grande river basin. Those two important water capture regions are located in the South-Est and South of Minas Gerais state. For the next year, the project intends to include a third river basin: the Araguari, that together with Grande are two important tributaries of the Parana river. Historically, the project area was submitted to intense soil exploitation (mining, extensive cattle raising), regardeless of the environmental sustainability. Today, the project activities have as an objective to revert such a trend, by promoting environmental awareness and natural resources management amongst landowners and closeby São communities. Francisco River Basin Finally, the project contributes to a societal problem, that is the water quality and availability that is becoming critical in Brazil. In 2014 the city of São Paulo started to experiment important shortages and that situation is expected to increase in the years to follow because of climate change and population growth. 6 PARTICIPANTS Local farmers and landowners Up to 55 landowners have already joined the project and benefited from tree planting. Participants are mainly small to medium landowners or farmers (2 to 10 hectares) disposing of an average income of 340 USD/month or up to 1’020 USD/month respectively. They join the project on a voluntary basis, mainly for the following reasons: erosion on their lands, to restore watersources, to increase their patrimony and the value of their lands (through eco-tourism, regeneration of watersources, landscape, etc). With the programme they are also following the Brazilian Code, that requires to protect riparian areas with native trees species in order to conserve water resources. 7 THE CORNERSTONE The power of the example Started in 2009, the project had a hard time in convincing landowners on the possibility of planting trees for conserving water resources and avoiding soil erosion. Landwoners were mistrustfull. Besides, although the Forest Code in Brazil was one of the most advanced worldwide, the law never came completely into force. The areas identified to be restored are named APPs (Areas de Preservação Permanente, or Permanent Preservation Areas in English). According to the forestry code, recently changed, such areas should be protected and when possible reforested in order to protect watercourses. Thanks to an impressive work on awareness raising, the first partner accepted to join the project, Mr. Whainne de Castro. His land (2,68 ha) is fullfiled with water sources, but was highly degradated because of the diamond mining and pasture. He herited the land from his parents and was willing to change the degradation trend previously undertaken by his family. The great plantation results convinced the whole family on the relevance of conserving natural resources. After this, his land became emblematic and was used as an excellent example to convince other partners. 8 ENGAGING LOCAL LANDOWNERS Building trust with local actors for a global cause Another interesting story is the one of Mr. Adenizio Araujo that asked NORDESTA in 2011 to help him restore the only water source from his property. He learned about NORDESTA because of the great work the organization was undertaking in the region. When the technicians arrived, they saw that the area was severly degradated with an advanced erosion process. The soil erosion was litteraly covering the water source. The selected model for the native species plantation was experimental and had a much higher density than the models previously used. Such test worked increadibly well as the trees had an exceptional growth when compared to other areas. The light competition accelerated the growth and the land got covered only in one year, successfully recovering the soil structure and water infiltration and sourcing. Trees roots allowed to stabilize soil losses, recovering regular infiltration from rainfall. Mr. Adenizio was happy to find his watersource recovered – the only potable watersource that his family and another family living in his property are dependent on. 9 HIGH CONSERVATION VALUE AREAS Beyond private lands, symbolic and environmental areas covered by the project activities NORDESTA also undertakes planting activities in public areas in partnership with local governamental agencies to recover high conservation value areas. Such reforestation activities contributes to the conservation of relevant areas for water sourcing, scenic beauty and wellbeing, as parks and other areas located in urban centers. The picture on the right below was taken during the Earth day event, organized with the environmental police, Rotary Club, the municipal department for the Environment of Pimenta (MG) and the SAAE (Sistema Autônomo de Água e Esgoto, in Portuguese). 10 PLANTING SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE Awareness raising amongst children and adults In parallel to the field work, Nordesta undertakes several activities on environmental education with children and adults. The objective is to estimulate a close relationship with nature so that participants feel responsible for the natural resources management. The education activities gives them tools to make a difference in their everyday life. In partnership with the local network of public schools (municipal and regional), Nordesta frequently organises field visits with schools to the nursery and other planting activities, making them familiar with the saplings production, seeds storage and cultivation, as well as watersources restoration. The partners organizations on these activities are the following municipalities: Arcos, Formigas, Iguatama, Córrego Fundo, Pains e Japaraiba. 11 THE MOVING LEGAL CONTEXT Permanent Preservation Areas and the Forestry Code Until not long ago, the brazilian Forestry Code was known to be one of the most advanced ones in the world. The first law regulating forests was from 1934. The latter was replaced by the Law n°12.651 from 1965, which was quite demanding when considering the conservation of natural resources notably the conservation of riparian zones. The “Forestry Code” regulated rural properties zoning, establishing limits to the usage of the “Permanent Preservation Areas” (APPs in Portuguese) that are watercourses and sources areas borders (up to 30 meters long and radius circle), slopes with over 45% declivity, amongst others.