maio, 27 2024

By Fábio de Castro, special to WWF-Brazil, and Solange Azevedo

The most biodiverse biome in Brazil, and also the most threatened, the Atlantic Forest only has 12.4% of its original area covered by mature and well-preserved forests in the country, with 76% of the total having already been completely devastated. In addition to the reduced space left, one feature of its remaining forests, in particular, has worried scientists: the high level of fragmentation.

In the entire Atlantic Forest, which also extends across parts of Argentina and Paraguay, 97% of vegetation fragments are smaller than 50 hectares (0.5 km2). For scholars such as Cézar Borges, senior conservation analyst at WWF-Brazil, such great fragmentation has several negative impacts on biodiversity, but also on the ecosystem services offered by the forest, on the climate, on the economy and on the lives of the 150 million people who inhabit the biome.

“This high level of fragmentation has, firstly, two important effects: one of them is the reduction in the amount of forest, which is dispersed into very small areas. The other is that these exiguous areas are probably forests of poor environmental quality. There will hardly be a jaguar there,  top predators, or certain endemic species, which only exist in some regions of the Atlantic Forest”, says Borges.

Connecting these fragments through restoration, according to him, is urgent to ensure the survival of threatened species of fauna and flora and maintain the ecosystem services provided by the forest. These services, such as water supply and pollination, are also fundamental for people and the economy, as more than 72% of the Brazilian population and 70% of the country's GDP are concentrated in the Atlantic Forest.

Nature-based solutions

The restoration of forest areas, the protection of species and the expansion and strengthening of protected areas are important nature-based solutions to protect and reconnect fragments and guarantee the environmental quality and biological diversity of the Atlantic Forest.

Applied to the biome, nature-based solutions are also fundamental to preserving carbon stocks and even avoiding disasters such as those that killed 65 people on the north coast of São Paulo in 2023, or the water crisis that hit the capital of São Paulo in 2014.

For Daniel Venturi, specialist in conservation and restoration and leader of the WWF-Brazil strategy in the Atlantic Forest, reconnecting forest fragments through restoration also helps to reconnect nature and people in the country's most populous biome. “Society needs to demand public policies that help protect and restore the Atlantic Forest,” he says. 

According to him, WWF-Brazil works on several forest protection and restoration initiatives that have been fundamental in connecting people and reconnecting the biome. The organisation is a partner, for example, of the Pact for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest and the Trinational Network for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest, of which Argentina and Paraguay are also members - both are collectives that work in the articulation of public and private institutions, governments, companies , in addition to scientific and local communities, with the aim of recovering native vegetation.

The organisation supports, for instance, projects that help promote public policies to provide ecosystem services and generate income on which people and productive sectors depend so much. “In 2023, we reached a total of 815 hectares restored directly with local partnerships”, says Venturi. These recovered areas are concentrated in strategic landscapes: Alto Paraná, the Serra do Mar Ecoregion, Mantiqueira, Espírito Santo, Serra do Urubu-Murici (or Northeastern Atlantic Forest) and the Doce River Basin.

“We need to bring people to the heart of the Atlantic Forest and the Atlantic Forest to the hearts of people. The protection and restoration of the Atlantic forest are essential for promoting healthy lives for the people who live and work, for the productive sectors and for the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest”, says Venturi.

A good example of this connection was the reestablishment of green corridors with threatened native flora species, which boosted the reintroduction of the jacutinga birds in São Francisco Xavier, in the interior of São Paulo state. A work carried out in partnership with Save Brasil. The bird, which was locally extinct, is a symbol of the trinationality and importance of the Atlantic Forest, as it exists only there and is one of the species known for dispersing seeds and, thus, helping in the conservation and restoration of the biome.

“When we see how it is possible to recover fauna and flora in these degraded areas, we realise the urgency of restoring and protecting the Atlantic Forest. We are showing that we can align global ambitions with our national and local demands, creating a virtuous circle of hope”, concludes Venturi.

Seeding life

Hope, in fact, is one of the feelings of Mariana Muniz. A 25-year-old woman, from Rio de Janeiro, who since childhood admired the Guapiaçu Ecological Reserve (REGUA). “I used to go by bus to go to school, I saw the seedlings and I was curious because I already loved plants. She thought: ‘one day I’ll work there’”. In August 2021, the dream finally came true. Since then, she has learned how to manage the entire restoration process, from collecting seeds to planting seedlings. Her favourites are the yellow Ipê, because of its beautiful colour, and the Jequitibá, because of its size.

The Jequitibá, a tree that can exceed 40 meters in height, is also among the favourite species of Regionan Alves, 29 years old. Like Mariana, he has worked at REGUA since 2021, dedicating himself to the restoration of the Atlantic Forest. “I am proud to be able to protect nature. I feel like I'm helping to guarantee the future of people, children... because without trees there is no life”, he says. “Before I was a farmer, I grew yams and cassava. Now it’s much better because I think helping nature is more important.”

Those who experience conservation and restoration on a daily basis, in addition to understanding the importance of these activities for the world, little by little teach those who still ignore them. Where there is vegetation, for instance, there is more water, since evapotranspiration produces rain. The deep roots of the plants also form a kind of network that prevents the silting of rivers and, consequently, the reduction of water volume.

“One day, a teacher told me: ‘I don’t know why you keep planting weeds’”, remembers Mariana. “So I asked what the water was like where he lived. When he told me it was terrible, I replied that here at REGUA there is plenty of water, which doesn't need chlorine or treatment. He remained silent, embarrassed. Every tree we plant, we are planting life.”