Last Friday, the 6th, the ceremony to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the PACTO took place in Belo Horizonte (MG), a movement that was created with the objective of recovering 15 million hectares of Atlantic Forest by 2050. The event was attended by of about 300 of its members, including the Environmentalist Association Copaíba, and the main agenda was to present the results and products achieved in these 10 years.

Members also launched targets for the coming years and the challenge of restoring another 1 million hectares of forest by 2025, which is equivalent to almost twice the Federal District.. “We hope to announce the achievement of 1 million hectares in 2020 and another 1 million by 2025, accelerating the process and making an effective contribution by Brazil to the fight against global warming, with the recovery of biodiversity and forest landscapes”, explains Renato Crouzeilles, researcher and associate International Institute for Sustainability (IIS), member of the Pact. In 15 years of movement, the result will be 2 million hectares of forest cover recovered in the Atlantic Forest.

The Pact also launched its online monitoring system, in partnership with MapBio, which has already identified 37,000 hectares of currently registered and validated projects in the process of restoration. The system will monitor the progress of restoration activities, allow the visualization of project sites and areas in the process of recovery in the Atlantic Forest biome, in addition to existing nurseries and forest remnants.

On the same day Copaíba received the title of Regional Unit, in addition to being a member, they now have the function of acting in the diagnosis of the restoration chain, helping to identify scenarios and local actors, as well as identifying gaps in information and links in this chain. . Another 18 institutions are regional units spread across 10 different states in Brazil.

The Coordinator of the Copaíba Nursery, Ana Paula Balderi, was present at the event presenting the results achieved by the work being carried out by the institution “Copaíba has been a member of the Pact since its inception and now we are a Regional Unit. Our commitment is even greater and our goals are in line with the initiative of this admirable movement for the protection of the Atlantic Forest. I am very happy that we can better support this movement”.

Forest restoration brings several benefits to biodiversity and society, including: increased connectivity between forest remnants, enabling genetic exchange and thus protecting biodiversity; climate regulation and mitigation of greenhouse gas effects; water protection through riparian forests that filter sediment and pollutants; soil protection, minimizing erosion and degradation; in addition to guaranteeing the supply of various products, such as wood, medicinal plants and others.

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