Copaíba, an Association founded in 1999, active in 19 municipalities in the Serra da Mantiqueira and which directly and indirectly benefits a population of approximately 500,000 inhabitants, with forest conservation and restoration actions, has just become one of the Actors Officials in Brazil, from United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), alongside partners such as Apremavi, One Tree Planted and SOS Mata Atlântica.

Led by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the movement has as one of its priorities, in this period from 2021 to 2030, to prevent, interrupt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on continents and oceans across the globe, seeking solutions to combat climate change, prevent the extinction of biodiversity and reduce poverty. 

“Being recognized as an official actor in the United Nations Decade of Restoration is a great honor and satisfaction. We have an incredible opportunity to support ourselves in global movements as important as this one, which help us to give visibility to the need to restore ecosystems - a worldwide urgency and which, in our case, we are talking about the Atlantic Forest, one of the most biodiverse on the planet.” – points out the Executive Secretary and founder of Copaíba, Flávia Balderi, with joy and immense satisfaction to have the institution from Salvador as an ally of the Restoration Decade.

 

 

 

 

Copaiba's activities

 Considered a civil society organization of public interest, Copaíba participates in projects and integrated programs of: public policies, environmental education, production of seedlings of native trees of the Atlantic Forest and forest restoration of degraded areas.   

At the Copaíba Forestry Nursery, from seeds collected in the region's forest fragments, more than 500,000 seedlings of trees native to the Atlantic Forest are produced annually. These seedlings supply the forest restoration projects of Copaíba itself and also of partners. To date, the Nursery has produced more than 3 million seedlings of more than 150 tree species native to the Atlantic Forest.

The areas in the process of forest restoration at Copaíba, in partnership with more than 320 landowners in the eastern region of the State of São Paulo and southern Minas Gerais, today represent more than 640 hectares with the planting of more than 850,000 seedlings.  

Aware that it is necessary to engage different sectors of society for the restoration to gain scale, Copaíba since its founding (1999), has already raised the awareness of over 40,000 people involved in environmental education work. Thanks to this work, hundreds of families have been and are being benefited. Many springs that were dry now have their water back, supplying rural producers. In addition, forest restoration has brought wild fauna back, demonstrating the good results and contributing to the conservation of biodiversity. 

And to strengthen actions and scale the restoration of ecosystems at the level of landscapes, networks such as the Mogi Guaçu River Basin Committee, the Atlantic Forest NGO Network (RMA), the Pact for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest, the Environmentalist Parliamentary Front - Forest Code Working Group and the Unified Management Council of the APAs Piracicaba/Juqueri- Mirim area II, Cantareira System.

Photo: By Katia Mazolini – Owner Ellen Fontana in Socorro/SP

 

The Atlantic Forest is declared a reference initiative of the UN's world restoration

The Atlantic Forest was announced at the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP-15, in Montreal, Canada, on December 13, as one of the ten reference ecosystems for restoration in the world. The nomination was made by the Pact for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest and the Trinational Network for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest, which includes organizations from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

This recognition, in addition to being a lever for restoration and an awakening of ecosystem functions and their importance to humanity, is an opportunity to leverage resources for the protection and recovery of this important biome.

Read the full article here!