Until September, about 20 professionals working in southern Bahia will participate in the  Environmental and Productive Adequacy in Rural Properties course, with 90 hours of duration.

The initiative seeks to empower people to develop low-impact agriculture. It is the result of a network construction between ESCAS - Escola Superior de Conservação Ambiental e Sustentabilidade (School of Environmental Conservation and Sustainability), IPÊ - Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (Institute for Ecological Research), ELTI - Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative, of the Yale University School of Forestry, and Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB).

"Nowadays, it is very necessary to increasingly stimulate the creation and development of leaders in the agricultural extension field, which is something of great importance for the country, especially if carried out with agroecological bases," says Simone Tenório, who coordinates the initiative with researcher Maria Otávia Crepaldi, both from IPÊ.

The course aims to expand the knowledge necessary for agricultural extension in the present times and foster the sharing of knowledge, bearing in mind the implementation of practical actions in the region. Because of the pandemic, the course is online, but its program has been designed towards practical exercises. Students have a strong performance in the region, which also has the potential to strengthen networking.

"In addition to the students of NEA - Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas em Agroecologia e Produção Orgânica Pau Brasil (Center for Studies and Research in Agroecology and Organic Production), from the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB), we invited some participants who work in the region as extensionists, technicians or even analysts in the agriculture, forestry or environmental fields, that were recommended by the following institutions: Programa Arboretum (Arboretum Program), Rede de Povos da Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest Poeples Network), Instituto Floresta Viva (Living Forest Institute), Ciclos, Secretaria de Agricultura da Bahia (Bahia’s Department of Agriculture), IPEF - Instituto de Pesquisas e Estudos Florestais (Institute of Forestry Research and Studies), Instituto Mãe Terra (Mother Earth Institute) and Instituto Arapyaú (Arapyaú Institute). For extension students of UFSB, the course integrates the pedagogical project of Residence in agroecological practices and counts as credit", adds Maria Otávia.

Key topics discussed are: Climate, agriculture, agroecology and public policies to encourage rural producers; Environmental planning and adequacy; Agricultural extension and participatory planning; Agroforestry systems; Silvopastoral systems, Native forestry; Ecological restoration and monitoring; Biodiversity conservation; Certification (carbon and organic); Rural business management; Practices in environmental and productive adequacy.

The opening of the course featured the master class with Carlos Klink, a reference in land use, climate change, green financing and partnerships.

Partnership for sustainable development in southern Bahia

ELTI operates in Brazil, Colombia, Panama, the Philippines and Indonesia, through a network of partnerships with civil society organizations. The new partnership with ESCAS-IPÊ and UFSB is an innovation for all organizations, and brings together the expertise and the the purpose of taking education on rural techniques and sustainability to more and more people in various parts of Brazil. "I thank everyone involved in this project. This is a new course for us as well, developed within this new phase of partnerships", commented Eva Garen, director of ELTI.

Biologist Saskia Santamaría, associated with the Neotropics Training Program, ELTI/Panama, highlighted the importance of adding varied knowledge. “This is our 26th course, through which we aim to align the theoretical components with application in the field. We have partners that help us adapt their knowledge according to each reality. In addition to the courses, we also provide technical support and mentoring for the effective implementation in the field of what has been learned”.

More than 8,100 leaders have already participated in the courses developed by ELTI along with its partners. The Yale Initiative has an open library with more than 800 publications in the field of tropical restoration in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.

Laura Mendes, master at ESCAS, is the author of this article in partnership with researchers from IPÊ and ESALQ-USP.

Read all here

Realizing the benefits of forest restoration requires that these ecosystems be maintained after the senescence of planted trees through facilitation of natural regeneration. We analyzed the effect of tree canopy cover, dispersal syndrome, deciduousness, and taxon in facilitating natural regeneration in tropical forest restoration planting. Canopy cover had additive positive effect on natural regeneration when combined with animal dispersal or evergreen trees. Animal dispersal had a positive effect on facilitating natural regeneration abundance, while evergreen species had a positive effect on natural regeneration richness only. Although variation within and among species was high, restoration practitioners could consider using species with these traits to facilitate natural regeneration and hence development of restoration plantings.

In attempting to predict the impact of major ecological or climatic change on livelihoods, insights can be gained by looking at communities who experience extreme seasonal or annual variation. Here, we compare the ecology, economy, and social network of a community of traditional fishers in the Brazilian Pantanal between the dry season and the flood season in which their wetland ecosystem is transformed. Using data derived from satellite imaging we show that during the flood season of 2019 the total amount of open water accessible to fishers more than doubled and led to drastic qualitative changes. We show that although fishers adapted to this extreme seasonality by changing where, how, and what they fish between seasons, the structure of the social network in our study community did not differ. We argue that strong networks are especially important in social-ecological systems with extreme seasonal changes. More generally, we suggest that case studies of seasonal adaptation such as ours can contribute to a broader understanding of how communities may be able to successfully adapt to novel social-ecological changes.

Read all article - Ecology and Society

On January 30^th, a planting ceremony with donors and company representatives marked the start of IPÊ’s work on the restauration of three hectares with more than 6,100 trees at the Cantareira System.

These trees are a result from donations and partnerships.

Collaborators in this planting act  maintained the designated social distancing measures, used masks and were always in open spaces, as a precaution to COVID-19. The planting took place at different times in order to avoid any kind of agglomeration.

Partnership to Restauration: Tourism

The Egencia Global Alliance (EGA) a company from Expedia Group, which has Tour House as their Brazilian partner, made a choice to join efforts with the challenge we have on planting 35 million trees at Cantareira System. They made a campaign during Tourism Fair in London, at 2020, where at each visit at Egencia stand, a tree would be planted by the company. And this result is 6.000 trees!

The president of Tour House comments: “We are very happy with the result, as well as to contribute with such important area for water protection. It is the second time we participate at an action like this, and, this year, we counted with the strength of our international group. I feel fulfilled being able to do this and be at a company that collaborates with environment”.

Andrea Peçanha, IPE’s Business Unity Coordinator, tells that planting are the highlight, but also a part of this medium/long term partnership. “Corporations has the opportunity to contribute, a lot, with the region. Just like business, to plant a tree also requires planning, since pre-planting until the two year period, in average, after performing and finish planting. The species’ and year season selection, and also the area monitoring are fundamental to the result of the forest restauration. Atlantic Forest seedlings planted by Tour House Group/Egencia Global Alliance (EGA) join efforts with more than 370 thousand seedlings already planted at Cantareira System by IPE, among a series of partnerships”.

Cause Marketing

Simone Nunes, fashion designer and partner of Serpentina Bikini’s brand, also planted a seedling, symbolizing the partnership with IPÊ. The swimwear brand returns 5% of value from each sold unit to IPE in to produce the seedlings at a hatchery located in Nazaré Paulista (Sao Paulo state), and now is also sold by IPÊ’ store.

“Our product has a direct relation with water, being that fresh or sea water, so I wanted to make a project out of it, where it supports initiatives of water conservation. Here in Brazil, we partnership with IPÊ and this will expand through the word, supporting similar projects”, tell Simone.

Individual Donors

Who also started the year making a dream come true was Silvio Luiz Tonietto (picture left). Silvio Luiz get to know IPE by a story exhibited in December at a national TV News about the biggest restored corridor in Brasil, at Pontal do Paranapanema (SP). Silvio made contact with the Institute and donated 100 trees.

“It is a retribution to all that nature gives, and we know how important this is to water conservation in a region as São Paulo. I am really glad to be able to plant with my bare hands”, Silvio commented.

The seedlings were planted at Atibainha reservoir surroundings, one out of five that constitute one of the biggest water supply systems in the world.

According to a study from Atlas of Cantareira System, an IPÊ publication, 21 thousands hectares need to be restored at the permanent preservation areas, at the river springs, rivers and streamlet vicinities. These are areas that should be covered by forests, but aren’t. This scenario harms Cantareira System’s resilience, one of the biggest water supply system in the world; responsible for the water going to 7,6 million people from metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, besides 5 million at Campinas and Piracicaba regions.

IPE is now being part of KM Solidário app. The more you use it, the more you can help our cause and our work regarding biodiversity conservation.

After all, it’s all about a balanced health and environment!

How can you support us:

• Download the app at your cellphone (available at both Android and iOS);
• Search IPE as an NGO to support (ONG, in Portuguese);
• Start your activity: you can walk (CAMINHAR), run (CORRER) or use your bike (PEDALAR) – and click at Start (“Iniciar”).
• Done! When finishing your activity, you have donated your kilometers to IPE.

At the end of each month, all kilometers will be converted into donations.

Get to know more about our initiative. This donation mechanism is available here at terms and conditions of use.