Tree nurseries
Brazil was once covered with immense forests sheltering fauna and flora of an extraordinary variety. Biologists from all over the world have listed millions of animal and vegetal species.
Nevertheless, for centuries this country has been suffering from intense deforestation that has only gotten worse during the last decades. The main causes of this deforestation are extensive animal rearing and industrial agriculture.
In certain municipalities, more than 90% of the lands have been deforested. These operations have weakened the water basin, causing so much erosion that the earth is on the verge of desertification. The once flourishing traditional agriculture is now often abandoned because the soil has become so poor.
Yet despite all this, some remains of native forests have survived throughout the country, remains from which seeds have been taken to start a process of reforestation.
It is through the creation of tree nurseries that our first reforestation programs were born.
Initially, the formation of nurseries comes through an understanding of the way different forms of seeds germinate. This is a complex process which we have learned to improve through experimentation and with the help of forest engineers and inhabitants of the forest itself.
Today, in recognition of our tree nursery project growth, locals wishing to reforest certain reclaimed areas frequently ask us to plant new nurseries in different regions of Brazil. This represents the beginning of what is commonly called « the multiplying effect ».
Reforestation constitutes one of the major axes of Nordesta’s actions and has been the origin of several successful projects.
Nurseries
Planting nurseries in villages is the first step towards the future reforestation of damaged areas.
Besides its fundamental impact on the environment, these structures secure long term emplyoment and generate future job oppportunities for villagers who work under the direction of agricultural technicians.
In addition to reforestation itself, nurseries also serve as pedagogical aids for the whole population, notably through the organisation of conferences with posters conveying information which helps to:
- maintain biodiversity
- slow down the erosion due to violent rainfalls
- ease and help the infiltration of rainwater down to the phreatic layer
Nordesta Reforestation & Education has launched new important projects as a direct result of the nurseries development.
« Arco Iris » reforestation project.
Saving the Pedra Talhada forest - which straddled the states of Alagoas and Pernambuco - has been Nordesta‘s priority since 1989, the year of our first vast reforestation operation. Our goal is to bring the forest out of its isolation by connecting it to other small forest massifs.
The banks of the rivers Paraïba and Carangueija, as well as the reservoir they supply (located above the village of Quebrangulo), have been urgently reforested.
Reforestation around the springs of the São Francisco river
The São Francisco river is vital to the millions of people living all along its 2'800 kilometres. It originates in the Minas Gerais mountains and crosses 5 states before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Salvador de Bahia.
The river is fed by thousands of tributaries and these water flows are diminishing due to deforestation.
Our project consists in planting trees around springs and ensuring that the young generations (especially students) are aware of how crucial reforestation is. We started this project in 2005 on the initiative of five riverside communities. The excitement generated by our success was so extraordinary that thirty other communities have asked to become a part of the project.
Today, with some collaboration of local authorities, we have been able to plant 1 million trees around the river’s springs and banks.
People's mentalities and behaviors are starting to change and many new partners have joined us in our fight for the restoration of the river’s health. We can achieve our common goal by offering specific training to those teachers willing to address the problem in schools.
We have two other major reforestation projects around the springs of the Rio Grande flowing south (Paraguay, Argentina) and of the Rio Parnaiba flowing north into the Atlantic Ocean (state of Maranhão, Piaui). These two rivers cover large hydric basins from which millions of lives depend.
Finally, we have accepted the challenge of reforesting a region in danger of desertification in the municipality of Gilbués, state of Piaui.