The fragmentation of the Atlantic Forest, caused by several human actions, such as deforestation, reached such high levels in the interior of São Paulo that fauna and flora populations are today isolated in remaining fragments surrounded by pastures and agricultural fields.
To keep forest biodiversity it is necessary to preserve its fragments and develop ways of connecting them through forest corridors, making it easier for fauna and flora to move between landscapes and interchange genetic material.
Implementing corridors in a large scale involves high costs in forest restoration and, for this reason, this action depends on creative ways of seeking financial resources.
One of the alternatives IPÊ has been studying since 2002 is the development of a project to remove carbon from the atmosphere through the planting of trees in strategic areas, which could function as forest corridors. This project involves quite different segments, starting with companies from those countries which assumed the responsibility of contributing to the reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases (gases produced by industries and vehicles). CO2 is one of them and the planting of trees can remove it from the atmosphere, since plants absorb CO2 during photosynthesis.
IPÊ’s Carbon Project combines the efforts to remove carbon from the atmosphere to minimize global heating with efforts to restore the Atlantic Forest and implement forest corridors to preserve biodiversity. Besides producing climatic and conservation benefits, this project also aims to promote social improvement, encouraging small farmers to adopt forest and agroforest practices to increase the income earned in the activities they develop in their plots of land.
