Biographies
Professional Biographies ACRAA Management Team Diêgo Figueiredo de Siqueira Simplício (Brazilian) Email: contact@acraabrazil.org Diêgo Figueiredo is Brazilian, graduated in Law from the University of Triângulo Mineiro (UNITRI, 2012), and registered with the Brazilian Lawyers Order under number 148.062 MG (2013). Diêgo trained for four years at three different institutions: at the Public Ministry of Claudio-MG (where he worked in the civil area); at the UNIFENAS Legal Assistance Center, in the city of Poços de Caldas-MG (also working in the civil area); and at the Public Defender of the State of Minas Gerais, in the city of Uberlândia-MG (where he worked in the area of criminal executions). During this same period he participated in a complementary course on Introduction to Business Management. As a lawyer, he has been working for nine years emphasizing further studies in the field of Environmental Law. Diego is also a founding member of ACRAA. Katiane Araújo…
ACRAA Volunteers
ACRAA Volunteers This page is dedicated to acknowledging and thanking those people that have volunteered their time in ACRAA’s nursery and in assisting in our day-to-day activities. The photos show our volunteers at work, and are presented with the most recent first – click on each to see the full-sized image. However, not included here are the many other volunteers that have stepped forward and helped at our planting and other events – to these people we say thank you very much as well. Many of these people can be seen in photos on our project pages. A special thanks to Waldeir, ACRAA’s Professional Forester, for organizing students from UFOPA (The Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará, Santarém), to help us at ACRAA. A big thank you to Daki as well for giving her Sundays to lead our weekly Volunteer Day at ACRAA. Comandá seedling ready to be potted. July…
Carbon Analysis
Carbon Footprint Analysis In this section we discuss the “carbon footprint” associated with travelling to the amazon to participate in our (near future) reforestation tourism program [1][2]. But at the outset here, to those that would immediatey scoff at such proposition simply because, yes, this does involve air travel, we respectfully argue — you do not undertsatnd the bigger picture here. Understand the amazon region is extremely economically depressed [3]. Even before the pandemic this was the case, but now it is much worse. As a consequence there are some here in Brazil calling for much higher levels of resource extraction (minerals, logging) and expansion of industrial agriculture (esp. soya). And this is occuring – with record rates of deforestation seen in 2022. See this recent article in Guardian. And this will continue to increase, unless we find alternate “green” forms of economic development. We see our reforestation tourism initiative…
Education
Education Education is the third branch of the ACRAA tree. There will be many elements to this branch, one of which is this website itself. This is because as time goes on we will include more and more detailed technical content – information that will help anyone else interested in undertaking reforestation and agroforestry projects in the humid tropics, or even replicating what we are doing here in Alter do Chão. Another important element is the work we are doing with local schools to support education in these areas. Here we very excited about the alliance we have formed the local Borari schools here in Alter do Chão. Our first work with these schools occured on April 18 and 20, 2022 – in conjunction with celebrations in relation to Indigenous Peoples Week here. See our ACRAA at School Program to learn more. But a critical component of our educational activities will be…
Agroforestry
Agroforestry A basic definition of “agroforestry” is farming systems whereby trees and shrubs specifically selected for their ability to produce food, wood or other wanted products, are incorporated with agricultural crops and/or animals in a spatial and/or temporal manner (note that shade is also a valuable function of trees in agroforestry systems). The benefits of such systems over purely “un-treed” agricultural production are numerous, and include increased biological and economic resiliency, increased biodiversity, and carbon sequestration and storage. Incorporating trees into agricultural systems can also improve soil fertility and help heal degraded lands. See how here. We feel this science must be part of forest restoration efforts in the amazon, as forests that can sustain families and communities are needed to address food and economic security locally and regionally. Some, as in a recent article in the Guardian, have gone as far as to say that larger-scale reforestation (such as,…
Reforestation
Reforestation The Alter do Chão area also draws attention for having freshwater beaches of admirable beauty, these famous nationally and internationally. In fact, in 2009 the Guardian rated the beaches of Alter do Chão as the number one “beach” in Brazil. See the Guardian article here. And it is in the restoration of these economically vital beaches that ACRAA is focusing its initial reforestation efforts, as there is an urgent need here. Specifically, this means planting the appropriate species to reverse the ongoing loss of tree cover here. We started this work in February 2020 with the collection of seeds from several species of trees that grow on these beaches, including the Ilha do Amor [1]. In March of the same year the first of these seeds germinated, those of a tree locally known as Comandá. This work has continued and we now have a growing collection of “Beach Trees”…
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