Forest Futures - Land Status

FInd out why the land we have identified needs your help...

Iracambi is located on a working farm in a rural community in the buffer zone of the 15,000 hectare Serra do Brigadeiro State Park, which protects one of the largest areas of Atlantic Rainforest in the state of Minas Gerais, and is one of its highest conservation priorities. In addition to Iracambi's federally protected forest reserve the project area includes several Environmental Protection Areas. The Atlantic Rainforest, one of the world's most important and most highly threatened areas of biodiversity, has been under attack since the Portuguese first arrived in Brazil 500 years ago. Sadly, the destruction continues because smallholders are caught in a cycle of rural poverty as the fragile forest soils degrade, and the market value of their cash crop - coffee - declines.

Research shows that producers typically get 14 US c per kilo while retailers of instant coffee command a price of $27 per kilo. Faced with the steady decline in prices coffee growers have little alternative but to clear more forest to expand their cultivated areas.

We at Iracambi are seeking to protect these precious forests while making sure that the farmers who live in the forest areas can escape from the cycle of poverty. To do this we work with partner institutions, researchers, the local community, and volunteers. Our project area is 200 square km, of which to date 24 hectares is targeted for the Forest Futures program.

Land description

While part of Iracambi's Forest Futures land is under secondary forest, much of it has been severely overgrazed and suffers from erosion and loss of nutrients. These steep mountain slopes are completely unsuitable for cultivation, but local smallholders often had no alternative.

The Forest Future land contains important water resources which form part of a major watershed. If soil erosion and water evaporation are to be prevented it is vitally important for springs to be protected by good forest cover. Yet the trees that are currently growing around the springs are greatly diminished in size and number, leaving the springs poorly protected and providing little cover for the wildlife that sustains and is sustained by the forest.

The Iracambi Forest Nursery is currently raising a crop of seedlings which we will use to reforest these future forests, introducing a variety of native species which will planted over the course of a number of years. These future forests are located next to existing stands of secondary forest and once the seedlings start to grow the birds and insects from the existing forest will migrate to the new forests, bringing with them seeds of many different plants, and slowly reestablishing the priceless biodiversity that has been drastically reduced.

All of the land owned by Iracambi is under permanent legal protection and will remain so for ever, and all subsequent Forest Future plots will also become part of this rapidly growing forest reserve.

Want to help? Click here to see the Forest Futures movies, or here for more information!