Indigenous cooperative restores forests to form ecological corridor in Bahia
by Sibélia Zanon on 25 November 2022 | Translated by Carol de Marchi and André Cherri
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“Our Atlantic Forest has several very important living beings, species that are already endangered and that we need to bring back,” says the Pataxó Matias Santana, president of the Foresters and Reforesters Work Cooperative of the Pataxó Boca da Mata Indigenous village (Cooplanjé), in the south of Bahia, Brazil. “We created the work cooperative to bring jobs to the community, to the family members.”
From 2018 until this year, Cooplanjé worked on restoring 210 hectares (519 acres) of degraded Atlantic Forest areas to increase forest connectivity between the Monte Pascoal National and Historical Park — the first piece of land sighted by Portuguese colonizers — and the Pau Brasil National Park, also integrating the Barra Velha Monte Pascoal Indigenous Territory of the Pataxó ethnic group.
“It was the first time that BNDES financed an AFS [agroforestry system] project in the Atlantic Forest biome,” says Marcos Lemos from the Natureza Bela Environmental Group, a project partner of the Pataxó. Fifty hectares (123 acres) out of 210 were restored within the Boca da Mata village. “We use this AFS as a restoration strategy for Monte Pascoal.”
In addition to the productive agroforestry system forming a kind of green belt sorrounding the reforested area, avoiding the entry of fire outbreaks, it is a way to strengthen the survival of Indigenous communities. “The conservation unit has an overlap with the communities of the Barra Velha of Monte Pascoal Indigenous Territory, which consists of 16 villages surrounding the park,” explains Lemos.
Maintenance work in the restored area around the Pau Brasil National Park, in southern Bahia. Image courtesy of Natureza Bela Environmental Group.
More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/indigenous-cooperative-restores-forests-to-form-ecological-corridor-in-bahia/