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This is a reprint from a Financial Times report.

While deforestation has surged under Bolsonaro, scientists are racing to find ways to conserve the rainforest

Bryan Harris in Boa Vista, Roraima, Andres Schipani in Altamira, Pará, and Anna Gross in Tailândia,Pará

Smoke still billowed above the Amazonian canopy as Jaime Sales clambered atop a 3-metre-high stack of razed trees. “Victory,” he exclaimed, letting his shotgun drop loose and surveying the battered forest around him.
At the vanguard of a small team of armed environmental enforcers, the corporal with Pará’s environmental military police unit had ventured deep into the jungle near Altamira in the northern Brazilian state, which has been the site of persistent conflict over deforestation.

His reward was the seizure of the massive illegal timber bounty — a haul he estimated to be worth “millions” of dollars on the black market, most likely in China, the US or Europe, say experts.

“Today was a good day, but these environmental crimes never stop. There is a lot of deforestation,”he says, adding that “the pressure is now on” from loggers, crooked ranchers and wildcat gold miners.

Such successes for Brazil’s environmental authorities have been few and far between. Since the election last year of the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who is a keen advocate of opening up the Amazon to commercial interests, these groups have been chopping down and setting fire to trees with gusto.

Although far from a record, the trends this year have been alarming: figures released this week showed that the rate of deforestation last month was 222 per cent higher than the same month last year. By some estimates, a football field worth of forest is razed every minute.

“There has been no enforcement since the election of Bolsonaro, and now the forest is paying the price,” says one ranger with Brazil’s national park service in the western state of Acre.“Some people are burning the forest because they know no one is going to fight them.”

Mr Bolsonaro and many of his allies see the rainforest as a natural resource that should be exploited — especially in a country which still has so many people living in or near poverty. They view international concern about the Amazon as an ill-disguised effort to hold back Brazil’s development by rich countries which have already trashed much of their own natural habitats.

But the global furore over Mr Bolsonaro’s approach to the Amazon has also given oxygen to a very different view of how to manage the rainforest. It has focused attention on the disparate community of scientists, businesspeople and activists who believe that technological advances could be the key to promoting sustainable development and tackling deforestation.

For them, the key to sidelining the Amazon’s more nefarious actors is to show that the conservation of land can be both economically profitable and environmentally valuable. They see the Amazon as the world’s largest repository of biodiversity and the potential foundation of a multitrillion dollar bio-economy, if scientists have the chance to map and harness the genetic codes of its diverse wildlife.

The argument about sustainability has been running for the three decades since the fate of the Amazon last became a global issue, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But for many of these scientists, there is a new generation of tools, from genomic sequencing to satellite-tracked reforestation, that can be harnessed to help save the Amazon, an ecosystem that underpins weather patterns across the continent

“What if we can map and sequence 100 per cent of complex life on the planet? We will unlock a gigantic amount of new innovations and new industries that we can’t even dream of imagining,” says Juan Carlos Castilla-Rubio, chairman of Brazil-based Space Time Ventures, a technology company that works on biomass, energy and water risks. “This is what we call a new bio-economy.”

The stakes are much higher now. Some scientists fear the world’s largest rainforest, which plays a vital role in absorbing carbon dioxide emissions and keeping a lid on rising global temperatures, could be approaching a “tipping point”, past which it will not have enough trees to maintain its water-recycling ecosystem.

So far, some 17 per cent of the rainforest has been razed. Until recently, scientists believed that the tipping point would arrive when 40 per cent of the Amazon had been destroyed. But Tom Lovejoy of George Mason University and Carlos Nobre at World Resources Institute-Brazil now believe the scales could start to tip when just 20-25 per cent of the rainforest has disappeared.

In an airy, open-plan office in a quiet suburb of São Paulo, Mr Castilla-Rubio has assembled some of Brazil’s brightest minds, including AI researchers, big data experts and biochemists. They are motivated by the same concern — applying new technological advances to the defence of the rainforest and other threatened areas of Brazil.

“Given the physics involved and what we see in terms of action around the world, I’m afraid there will be runaway climate change leading to catastrophes like major crop failures, water scarcity and social unrest,” says Mr Castilla-Rubio. “You can’t predict when or where it will hit the worst, but the signs are all in the same direction, which is irreversibility.”

Central to his group’s activities is the use of big data and satellites to help farmers improve the output of their land and reduce the need to expand their boundaries into protected rainforest. One such project involves using satellites to pinpoint and classify particular types of weeds, which can then be targeted in surgical strikes by herbicide-wielding autonomous drones.

“If you know precisely where and what the weeds are, you can use one 30th the input of herbicides. That means you pollute just one 30th of what you would have before,” he says.

Similar technologies are now being adapted across Brazil by farmers who are conscious both of environmental sensitivities and the importance of making farms more efficient and resilient to increasingly extreme weather.

“The point is we know we have to preserve. Everyone knows this. Farmers know this. We know we don’t have more earth to open,” says Edwin Montengro, a macadamia nut farmer, who is using biofertilisation techniques to improve the quality of his soil and crops.

Scientists are aiming to go beyond improving the sustainability of agriculture in the region. Potentially more game-changing are plans to map and sequence the genomic codes of the Amazon’s bountiful wildlife.

Although considered the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet, less than 1 per cent of the DNA of the complex life in the jungle has been fully sequenced by scientists. Mr Castilla-Rubio, a Cambridge-educated biochemist, believes such an endeavour would open up vast economic opportunities once the results were transferred to industry.

“We have thus far only sequenced 0.28 per cent of complex life on the planet,” he says. “But knowledge of that 0.28 per cent was the basis for multiple industries — pharmaceuticals, chemicals, materials, fuels — and has resulted in annual sales of at least $4tn.”

For conservationists, one of the most promising options is to reforest lands that have been illegally razed — a strategy that has been hailed as one of the “most effective” for mitigating climate change, a team of European environmental scientists wrote in the journal Science in July.

The process, however, is time-consuming, expensive and often futile.

“Planting a forest is very complicated work. It is like a life system, an entire body. You have to make sure the heart, the stomach, everything is in the right position. To build an artificial body requires a lot of study,” says Marcello Guimarães, chairman of Mahogany Roraima, a commercial timber and reforestation plantation in the northern Amazon.

Each tree has to be planted in consideration not only of the sun and the shade, but also other trees, which can interfere with growth. Similarly, planting a single type of tree increases the risk of disease, so a careful mix of species needs to be arranged. This typically needs to be done by expert arborists, of whom there are few in the Amazon.

In addition, some species, such as eucalyptus, grow easily and quickly but they do not provide a habitat for biodiversity to flourish — they become a “dead zone”, says Mr Guimarães.

Once planning is complete, the reforestation process then needs to be implemented at scale. Under the terms of the Paris climate accord, Brazil has pledged to reforest 12m hectares by 2030 — a long shot at current rates.

“Reforestation has unique challenges of its own. What is the right type of tree, what was the native species, are there nurseries and seed banks? A lot goes into how you make sure you grow healthy forests that increase biodiversity,” says Duncan van Bergen, vice-president for nature-based solutions at Royal Dutch Shell, the oil group.

Mr Guimarães believes the solution has to involve convincing landowners and farmers that there is a clear economic benefit from adopting new technologies. Using satellites to monitor his plots and autonomous planting machines, the businessman from the northern state of Roraima aims to increase planting from 200 hectares a day to 100 hectares an hour.

Of his timber plantations, only 20 per cent can be used for commercial purposes while 80 per cent are kept as reforested land in accordance with Brazilian regulations.

“The main point for us is we are trying to develop a commercial business, but the reforestation is very important to this process,” says Mr Guimarães. “If we can develop this as a business, we can [compete] with the deforesters.”

The idea of creating an economic incentive is one shared with the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation, a non-profit group that seeks to empower local communities by providing opportunities in the production chains of cocao, nuts and fisheries.

“We get changes by making people realise they can improve their livelihoods by the sustainable use of resources,” says Virgilio Viana, chief executive of the foundation, pointing to a 60 per cent reduction in deforestation in the areas in which they work.

Mr Viana worries that the encouraging signals being sent from Mr Bolsonaro to illegal loggers make the work of non-profit groups more difficult. The president has publicly attacked Ibama, the environmental agency, and even accused NGOs of being behind some of the fires in the Amazon region. “If the cost of illegality is reduced, it makes sustainable development less competitive,” he says. “It shifts the economic balance.”

The non-profit group also has concerns about financing. The organisation is a primary beneficiary of the Amazon Fund, a multimillion-dollar conservation scheme supported by Norway and Germany. As deforestation in Brazil spiked this year, Berlin and Oslo suspended funding, triggering a diplomatic spat with Europe, which has since been exacerbated by the Amazonian fires.

Luiz Carlos Lima, a federal public prosecutor in Roraima, an Amazonian state next to Venezuela, is optimistic that the situation in Brazil will improve as citizens become more aware of environmental crime and the risks of climate change.

“Brazil is a teenager right now. Europe is an old man,” he says. “Teenagers don’t respect the law.”

See the original article clicking here.

Globo Rural special report on planting African mahogany from our consortium partner Mahogany Roraima. The article shows our forest planting machine – RCCM 3.0.

Reforestation. Project supported by the private sector foresees sustainable development in degraded areas of the Amazon region

Preserving the Amazon region is not an easy task. Different interests, conflicts, and high costs to protect or recover large areas make magical or definitive solutions unfeasible. But that does not prevent different initiatives from emerging to minimize the growing devastation.
In Roraima, a logging company with technology solutions is working with the state government to develop a reforestation project to recover degraded areas.
“Even with this problem of burning – part natural and another criminal – there was a giant opportunity, we need to give an answer. It consists of planting native forest and the other exotic, quickly and cheaply. ” says Marcelo Guimarães, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mahogany Roraima, which specializes in planting African mahogany (read more).
In practice, the exotic part could be extracted in the future (about 15 years) and generate profits for landowners – up to 20% of trees in reforested areas for management. “people take the fine, but they need to sort it out and reforest. But there’s no economic way out – and with people who don’t even get a loan bank and need to eat. Thus solves an environmental liability with a sustainable economic bias, just fine or arrest does not solve, “argues Guimarães.
The businessman says that the funding would be lost fund via BNDES, specific for reforestation, with the government issuing the edicts. The company would help in the operational part, since the seedlings of the plants.
According to him, until the time to exploit wood in the short term, the idea is to enable small farmers to grow and market fruits and vegetables within the forest areas, Agrofloresta Solidária.
This last project already works within the company itself and with the participation of Venezuelan immigrants. Production, as of next month, is expected to provide food for up to six thousand refugee families every three months (two thousand a month).
The surrender will be made to the Army, which commands Operation Welcomed.

Before Recovering Areas, Government Helps Make CAR

Through Femarh (State Foundation for Environment and Water Resources of Roraima), the government of Roraima licit a project for enrollment in the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry) – requirement of the Forest Code – in nine municipalities of the Midwest and Southern regions of the state. . contemplating 60% of the municipalities.
According to Femarh, 14,249 rural producers will benefit, with 10,028 lots located in 16 agrarian reform settlement projects and 4,221 rural properties located outside settlement projects. The service will be performed by a specialized company to be hired by electronic trading with resources (R $ 3.3 mi) raised through the Amazon Fund Spontaneously were made about 7 thousand CAR.
According to environmental analyst Wagner Nogueira, the actions go beyond environmental registration, “because the state is committed to developing actions such as the State Plan for the Recovery of Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) and Rls (Legal Reserves), so that the benefited rural producers have full condition of having their rural properties environmentally regularized “.

Recovery
Nogueira says that Femarh is currently seeking partnerships to expand the project’s actions, especially with the recovery of degraded areas, and has been talking to Embrapa, state and municipal secretariats, universities and private institutions, such as Mahogany. Roraima “After this phase of registration and with an environmental diagnosis of rural properties, it will be necessary to build new projects with immediate actions to recover environmental liabilities of registered properties,” he said.

African mahogany

Company wants to be the largest in the world

Above the equator line. Roraima has similar latitude to the African countries where local mahogany grows. With favorable climate and soil and cheap land, the state was adopted by Magohany Roraima for an ambitious project: planting 40,000 hectares of the species in 10 years and becoming the world’s largest exporter – less than 700 km from Boa Vista to Atlantic Ocean by Georgetown, Guyana. plus easy access to the Pacific via the Panama Canal.
Over the past three years the company has perfected a machine that can plant up to 200 hectares per day. The goal, however, even for environmental license reasons, is to plant an average of 200 per month. Most should be planted in a third party area (which will have part of the profits). with the company bearing costs in exchange for carbon credit.

METRO CURITIBA

See the original article(in portuguese) clicking here.

▲ After the appointment of Brazilian President Posonalo, the commercial interests of the Amazon rainforest were opened up, causing forest destruction to become widespread. (Figure / Dazhi, the same below)

When Jaime Sales climbed to the 3m high tree pile that was cut down and shouted “victory”, there was still smoke left above the Amazon rainforest; he put down the shotgun and continued to investigate the rainforest that was raging around. Saris is a pioneer in an environmental armed group, along with the Brazilian Para-Environmental Constitutional Police Force, deep into the jungle near Altamira in northern Brazil, where conflicts continue in the deforestation.He was worthy of his trip and seized a large amount of stolen timber, which is estimated to be worth millions of dollars. Experts believe that the timber could have been shipped to China, the United States or Europe. Saris said: “There are slight gains today; however, these environmentally damaging crimes have never stopped, and forest destruction has become rampant.” He pointed out that forest destruction is caused by illegal loggers, cunning farm owners, and Gold miners.

Brazilian President ignites the fire of deforestation

However, examples of successful Brazilian moratoriums are rare. Since the election of the president of Jair Bolsonaro on the far right last year, he has been eager to open up the commercial interests of the Amazon rainforest. The first three kinds of people will also benefit from the slashing of trees and the burning of forests. Although it has not set a historical record, the deforestation rate of the Amazon rainforest is still amazing this year. According to data released recently, the deforestation rate in August this year was 222% higher than that of the same period of last year; every minute there was a football field-sized forest area that was flattened. A mountain patrolman from the National Parks Management Office in Acre, western Brazil, said: “Since the election of Posonalo, the law has never been seriously enforced, the rain forest has suffered, and people have set fire to the forest because they know that no one is banned.”

Posonalo and his allies believe that tropical rain forests are natural resources and should be developed, especially in Brazil where so many people live in poverty or near poverty. The attention of the international community to the Amazon rainforest is seen as a blatant stalking of Brazil’s development, and the natural habitats of these rich countries have been destroyed.

The attitude of Posonalo in the Amazon woodland has caused public outrage in the world. This dissatisfaction also adds motivation to the various views and discussions on how to manage the rainforest. Scientists, entrepreneurs and environmentalists believe that advances in science and technology can promote sustainable development and solve forest damage problems.

For them, the key to not letting the role of the bullying Amazon rainforest succeed is to show that land conservation is economically profitable and valuable to the environment. They believe that the Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest resource for biodiversity and a potential base for a multi-million dollar bioeconomy, but only if scientists can resolve and exploit the genetic code of the Amazon rainforest’s diverse wildlife.

Since the end of the 1980s, the fate of the Amazon rainforest has become a global issue. The debate on the sustainability of the rainforest has lasted for 30 years, but for many scientists, a new generation of tools such as genome sequencing, satellite tracking forest reconstruction, etc. It can strengthen the salvation of the Amazon rainforest that is related to the climate model. Juan Carlos Castilla-Rubio, chairman of Space Time Ventures in Brazil, said: “If 100% of the complex life genes maps on the planet are resolved, we can open up a lot of new inventions and new industries that we have dreamed of. This is what we call the new biological economy.”

The rainforest was disappeared and brought human catastrophe

However, the situation is becoming increasingly critical. Some scientists worry that the world’s largest rainforest, which absorbs carbon dioxide emissions and controls global temperature rise, may be close to a key “tipping point”. Once this limit is exceeded, there will not be enough trees on the earth to maintain the water cycle ecology. system. In the past, scientists believed that when 40% of the Amazon rainforest was destroyed, the tipping point would come; but George. Tom Lovejoy of Geroge Mason University and Carlos Nobre of the Brazilian World Resources Institute now argue that when 20 to 25% of the tropical rain forests disappear, the balance begins to tilt.

Casdia Rubio’s office in the suburbs of São Paulo has brought in some of Brazil’s golden minds, including artificial intelligence researchers, big data experts and biochemical scientists. They are committed to using new technologies to protect the rainforest and other threatened areas in Brazil. Casdia Rubio said: “I am worried that climate change will be like a dislocated horse, causing frequent disasters – crop failure, water shortages, social unrest. You can’t predict when and where the worst will happen, but these The signs all point in the same direction and are irreversible.”

The Casdia-Rubio team uses big data and satellites to help farmers increase farmland output and reduce agricultural land expansion to the edge of protected tropical rainforests. A project also uses satellites to pinpoint and classify specific types of weeds, which are then surgically precision weeded by drones. He said: “If you know exactly where and what kind of weeds, you can use one-third of the herbicide, which means only polluting the previous one-third.”

Farmers across Brazil use similar technologies, they are aware of the sensitivity of the environment and the importance of farms to adapt to extreme weather more efficiently. Edwin Montengro, a farmer who grows Hawaiian beans, said: “The key is that we know we have to conserve. We know we don’t have more land to develop.” Montangro uses biological fertilization technology to improve soil and The quality of the crop.

Scientists new technology to save the earth

The goal of scientists is not only to improve the sustainability of agriculture in the Amazon, but also to analyze the genetic map of the abundance of wildlife in the Amazon rainforest, and to change the way to protect the rainforest. Although the Amazon rainforest is recognized as the most biologically diverse ecosystem on the planet, less than 1% of the rainforest complex life DNA is sorted out. Cassidia Rubio, a biochemist from the University of Cambridge, believes that once the results of the genetic map are transferred to the industry, there will be huge economic opportunities. He said: “So far, we have only measured 0.28% of the complex life on the earth, but this 0.28% of knowledge is the foundation of the pharmaceutical, chemical, materials, fuel and other industries, bringing annual sales of at least 4 trillion US dollars. .”

A team of environmental scientists in the European Union wrote in the July issue of Science: “One of the most promising options for protectionists is to reforest on illegally razed land.” One of the “most effective” methods of mitigating climate change. However, the afforestation process is time consuming and expensive and often in vain. Marcello Guimaraes, chairman of Mahogany Roraima, a commercial timber and plantation park in the Northern Amazon rainforest, said: “Afforestation is a very complicated job, like a living system, a whole. You must ensure that everything is right in your heart and stomach. In terms of location, building an artificial body requires a lot of research.”

Planting each tree requires not only sunshine and shading but also other trees that interfere with growth. Similarly, planting a single species increases the risk of disease and therefore requires a carefully arranged combination of species. This usually needs to be performed by professional tree planters, and there are few such talents in the Amazon region. In addition, Guimaras said that some species, like oil-bearing trees, are easy to grow but do not provide habitat for the prosperity of biodiversity species, and they become so-called “dead zones.”

The best solution: reforestation and warming

According to the Paris Climate Agreement, Brazil promises that by 2030, the afforestation will reach 12 million hectares, but at the current rate, it is unlikely to be done. Guimaras believes that the solution involves convincing landowners and farmers to adopt new technologies with obvious economic benefits. Merchants in Roraima have used satellites to monitor land-based automatic planting machines, and the planting area can be increased from 200 hectares per day to 100 hectares per hour.

According to Brazilian regulations, only 20% of forest farms are used for commercial purposes and 80% must be reserved for reforestation. “Our focus is on developing commercial business, but afforestation is very important to this process. If we can develop as a business, we can compete with those who are deforestation,” said Guimaras.

The idea of creating economic incentives is affirmed by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation. Foundation executive Virgilio Viana said: “We let the world know that sustainable use can be used to improve livelihoods and achieve change.” He pointed out that in areas where they worked hard, rainforest damage was reduced by 60%. .

However, Viana is concerned that the sign of encouragement from Posonalo to illegal loggers has made the work of non-profit groups more difficult. Posonalo has publicly attacked the environmental agency Ibama, and even accused NGOs of being the culprit behind several fires in the Amazon rainforest. Viana said: “If the cost of illegal deforestation is reduced, then the competitiveness of sustainable development will also be reduced, and the economic balance will change.”

See the original article(in chinese)  clicking here.

Des investissements verts sont mis en valeur, alors que des scientifiques tracent la voie vers une « Amazonie 4.0 ». Une PME créée par un Français, qui exporte de la pulpe d’açaí vers l’Hexagone, prépare l‘inauguration d’une usine de transformation de ce fruit d’Amazonie dès l’année prochaine sur l’île de Marajo.

L’açaí est un fruit de l’Amazonie particulièrement énergétique, dont les rendements se situent entre 200 et 1500 dollars par hectare par an.

« S’ils rasent toute la forêt, je vais devenir milliardaire ! ». Pince-sans-rire, Marcello Guimarães est à la tête d’un projet de reboisement dans l’Etat de Roraima, en Amazonie. Il est l’un des nombreux entrepreneurs qui se sont lancés dans l’aventure agro-forestière et offrent une alternative à la déforestation . L’objectif de Mahogany Roraima est double : planter et vendre de l’acajou (africain) d’une part, et reboiser 10.000 hectares de zones dégradées d’autre part. « Il est possible de trouver des solutions de développement rentables pour éviter la destruction de la forêt », affirme ce scientifique installé depuis huit ans en Amazonie. « Il faut absolument donner une fonction économique aux gens qui vivent sur place. Le problème actuel de la déforestation, ce n’est pas seulement les grands propriétaires qui détruisent la forêt, ce sont les familles qui déboisent leurs parcelles de terres petit à petit, 60 hectares, 120 hectares… et qui vendent ensuite leur bois à un prix dérisoire, juste pour survivre. Et ensuite, ils mettent le feu pour faire place nette », explique Marcello Guimarães. Sur sa plantation d’un millier d’hectares, il a recours à l’intelligence artificielle pour « surveiller » l’état de la forêt et identifier l’apparition de maladies.

Industrie 4.0

L’avenir de l’Amazonie passe-t-il par la quatrième révolution industrielle  ? C’est justement la thèse que soutiennent les scientifiques brésiliens Carlos et Ismaël Nobre. « Il est possible de mettre sur pied des chaînes de valeur à partir de produits de locaux grâce aux nouvelles technologies de la quatrième révolution industrielle », avancent-ils dans un essai sur « l’Amazonie 4.0 », récemment publié dans la revue Futuribles (version portugaise). Il y a encore beaucoup à faire, reconnaissent-ils, car « l’Amazonie demeure dans une large mesure déconnectée des centres d’innovation technologique 4.0 et de la bio-économie ».

De l’acajou à l’açaí

Les frères Nobre citent l’exemple de l’açaí, un fruit de l’Amazonie particulièrement énergétique, dont les rendements se situent « entre 200 et 1500 dollars par hectare par an », selon le mode de production employé. Soit « le cas le plus éloquent de succès des produits agro-forestiers », soutiennent-ils.

C‘est sur ce créneau que s’est lancé le Français Damien Binois, fondateur de Nossa Fruits, une petite PME qui exporte de la pulpe d’açaí vers la France et prépare l‘inauguration d’une usine de transformation de l’açaí dès l’année prochaine sur l’île de Marajo. « C’est une région très pauvre, et on veut prouver qu’il est possible d’avoir une activité économique viable dans cette région, explique Damien Binois. L’enjeu, c’est de montrer que la forêt debout peut rapporter davantage que si on la rase et que l’on met des vaches à la place ».

Amid worldwide concern about preserving the Amazon, the target of burning and deforestation, the Brazilian company Mahogany Roraima shows how it has combined recovery of degraded areas and sustainable economic development.

As the press and governments around the world turn their attention and concerns to indiscriminate burning and deforestation in the Amazon, the most concrete examples of how it is possible to combine accelerated recovery of degraded areas and economic development are flourishing.

Fourth largest African mahogany production company in the world, Mahogany Roraima, with a branch in Boa Vista, has developed its own structure and state-of-the-art technology to plant 200 hectares per day (4,000 ha / year) with only 39 people in one area. total 90,000 ha – the goal is to reach 2021 with 13,000 hectares of seedlings planted and, in ten years, 40,000 ha, creating the largest mahogany production company in the world.

On another front, the company is investing in a sustainable reforestation project that will rebuild a liability of 172,000 hectares of devastated native forest, producing timber that could generate future profits for landowners – they could harvest 20% of trees in reforested areas to management.

Until the time comes for logging, the company-funded Agroforestry project empowers small farmers to grow and market fruit and vegetables within forested areas.

Making money from reforestation and working conditions for workers to survive while preserving the environment as much as possible, Mahogany Roraima meets the main goals of the international booklet of sustainable economic development. Thus, it shows that there are alternatives amidst the chaos in which we live on the environmental issue. “Including regional alternatives. A hope for large-scale reforestation projects, ”says businessman Marcello Guimarães, chairman of Mahogany Roraima.

Operationalization

Mahogany Roraima has developed state-of-the-art technology for planting your seedlings: a 100% automatic “forest planting” machine created by Marcello that simplifies and speeds up the process. It also allows a planned distribution of native species, contributing to the development and preservation of biodiversity in reforested areas.

The planting is already being done by the company in the state of Roraima on two fronts:

· Reforestation in devastated areas, with agricultural partnership: the company plants in third-party areas, bearing the costs and, in return, gets carbon credits (*) and wood management in the future. The partner owner gets 20% of the value produced;

· Planting in own areas: with investments coming from specific reforestation funds, such as those in Norway and the Roraima government itself.

Mahogany Roraima’s total investment in the mahogany planting project alone should total R $ 487 million in ten years. The estimated financial return is R $ 14 billion over 40 years, considering amounts paid today by African mahogany: R $ 5,000 per cubic meter sawed (each hectare planted results in 150 m3 of wood).

Refugee Support

Another proof of the citizen conscience in moving Mahogany Roraima’s leaders is their participation in Operation Welcomed – interagency humanitarian action, conducted in Brazil by the Armed Forces, Government and Federal Police – which consists in intermediating the hiring of Venezuelan refugees by proven companies.

According to official estimates, more than 32,000 Venezuelans living in Roraima today have mass immigrated to Brazil via the Boa Vista border since 2015, fleeing the economic and political chaos of their country.

Mahogany Roraima currently employs 15 Venezuelans directly and 40 indirectly, in functions such as general services, cook, nurseryman, tractor driver, agricultural designer, among others linked to the planting of mahogany forests.

Through production in the Agroforestry, the company will also provide the Army every three months with enough food to feed 6,000 refugee families – 2,000 a month.

Promoting citizenship

And as part of its drive for sustainable economic development, the company has partnered with the Boa Vista City Hall and the Roraima State Government to create an environmental education project. Through the agreement, classes will be given within the company, visits to the seedling nursery, forests and agroforestry, as well as an educational and playful film. “We need to teach everyone why preserving forests and planting trees is so important,” concludes Marcello Guimarães.

___________________________

(*) REFORESTATION IS GOOD BUSINESS

The carbon credit market emerged from the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that set reduction targets – 5.2% on average compared to 1990 levels – in greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was then created, which provides for certified emission reductions. Once this certification has been achieved, those who promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are entitled to carbon credits that can be traded with countries with goals to be met.

See the original article(in portuguese) by clicking here.