Forests for Water protects brings life connects
Forests for Water
Our flagship program, “Forests for Water”, works with the local community to restore the Atlantic Forest one hectare at a time. This strengthens essential ecosystem services for quality of life through regulating climate, protecting and restoring water resources, stabilizing and improving soil fertility, extending habitat for biodiversity and ensuring a continuing supply of timber and medicinal plants as well as forest fruits. To date we have planted more than 300,000 native species trees, and our goal is to plant 1,000,000 by 2030. Forests for Water uses two techniques to revitalize degraded land: direct planting and installing agroforestry plots.
Techniques
Direct planting
This technique consists of preparing the soil and planting native species seedlings in local farms. Planting is done during the rainy season, with defined spacing and a density of 2,500 seedlings per hectare.
Agroforestry System
In this technique we work with local farmers to restore degraded areas by planting native species seedlings combined with commercial crops already established in the region (avocado, banana and coffee). We are also enriching agroforestry systems with fruit-bearing species native to the Atlantic Forest that have economic potential. In addition to increasing forest cover on properties and diversifying food production, our agroforestry restoration work generates income, improving the relationship between people and nature.
