about-posts – ACRAA Brazil

ACRAA Updates

thor — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 16:33:21 +0000

ACRAA Overview and Operational Plan (2024)

The attached document presents and overview of ACRAA along with our operational plan (latest edits August 2024).

ACRAA-Overview-and-Operational-Plan-2024 Download

Biographies

thor — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 17:27:06 +0000

Professional Biographies ACRAA Management Team

Katiane Araújo Lourido. Natural de Santarém – Pará.

Degree in Full Licentiate in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Western Pará/UFOPA (2016). Master’s in Environmental Sciences, in the area of concentration of bioprospecting of natural products – UFOPA. Experience in extraction and bioactivity of essential oils. Teaching Science and Biology and environmental education.

Katiane is also the lead instructor and manager of ACRAA’s “ACRAA in the Schools” environmental education program. She is also a founding member and the current President.

Diêgo Figueiredo de Siqueira Simplício (Brazilian)

Email: diego@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.

B. Thor Smestad (Canadian) B.S.F.[1], M.Sc.[2], P. Ag.[3]

Email: thor@acraabrazil.org

Thor Smestad is a Canadian reforestation and ecosystem-restoration specialist. He began this career in 1981 as a tree planter in the mountains of British Columbia (BC), Canada, and then later, after completing a degree in forest resources management (1994), continued to work in BC as a silvicultural forester. This work involved managing projects related to all aspects of reforestation and forest management on the vast expanses of public lands in British Columbia.

In 1997 he returned to university to complete a Master of Science degree, specializing in soils. His master’s study was located in western Kenya, where he examined the soil fertility changes associated with short-duration agroforestry fallows (Smestad et al., 2002).[4]

Since completing his masters in 2002, Thor has worked throughout western Canada in the field of ecosystem restoration and soil erosion control. For a short period (2012 to 2016) he also operated his own native plant nursery and ecosystem restoration company.[5] Many of the projects completed during this period were in shoreline and riverbank restoration, and he is now known as a specialist in this area in BC. One of the most exciting projects during this period was the ecological restoration of a small peninsula near Nelson, BC. Here, for a three-day period in each of five consecutive years (2011 to 2015), Thor co-led an annual ecological restoration field-school for the local College’s Integrated Environmental Planning Program.[6]

At present he works seasonally (April-Nov.) as a senior ecosystem restoration specialist for an environmental consulting company in western Canada.[7] He spends his winters in the Amazon region of Brazil where he is a founding member of ACRAA.

[1] Bachelor of Science in Forestry. University of British Columbia (Canada). 1994
[2] Master of Science. University of Saskatchewan (Canada), 2002.
[3] Professional Agrologist. BC Institute of Agrologists (British Columbia, Canada).
[4] For published study results see: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1020501627174
[5] Treebear Native Plants. See https://Treebearplants.ca
[6] Selkirk College, Castlegar, BC. https://selkirk.ca/program/iep
[7] Lotic Environmental Services, Cranbrook, BC, Canada. See https://lotic.co/

Katherin Daniela León Pinto

My name is Katherin Daniela León Pinto. I was born in Lara-Barquisimeto, Venezuela. I am 27 years old.

From a very young age I have felt a strong connection with plants. When I was 5 years old my family traveled to Valencia-Carabobo where my grandparents lived, they work mono-cultivation with citrus, milky and bananas. One day I asked my grandfather to teach me to work the land; that was my first contact, which led me to discover that this is my passion. Since then, a large part of my life has been dedicated to plants.

My family was a bit nomadic so we traveled a lot. We were in various states of Venezuela; we lived in cities, neighborhoods and towns. In each place I met people who shared their knowledge of plants with me, and this is something that I really liked. Every time I had the opportunity I read books about plants, and learned a little about natural medicine among other things.

Like the plants, I felt a great connection with the animals in each place where we arrived, and I rescued the animals that I found on the street and cured them. Most of them were cured with plants, so I practiced my home remedies. Those are my passions, plants and animals.

Of course life goes by and the world goes around and in those turns I lived and learned many things, and I am still living and learning. Now I live in Alter do Chão. Since I arrived here my work with plants has deepened, living two years in Caminho das Pedras, a small community near Alter do Chão that works with agroforestry. There I learned to work with multi-cultivation, agroforestry, and the biodiversity in the humid tropical zone; and with the soil here, which is sandy. This has been a great challenge with great learning.

I have been part of ACRRA for three years now; that is where I work, practicing and sharing everything I have learned. I am still seeking knowledge about plants, including at times taking courses on the internet about agroforestry. Daki is a founding member of ACRAA.

Sula Gabrieli

Sula (Gaby) is a skilled nursery worker and medicinal plant specialist and is a member of the indigenous Maytapu people. Her ancestral community is the village of Pinhel that lies about 50 km to the south-west of Alter do Chão further up the Tapajós River. She assists Daki with the management of ACRAA’s nursery and works with her own knowledge of plants to add to what ACRAA can offer. Gaby is a founding member of ACRAA.

Thais Thayane da Silva Beltrão de Farias

Brazilian, born in Recife-PE, on 29.09.1993.

Thais is a technician in Business Administration, graduated from the Special Professional Center (2011). Also a makeup Artist – Embeleze Institute (2014), and eyebrow Designer – Center Take Free courses (2018).

Worked as an administrative and commercial assistant at the Objective Engenharia de Eventos in 2012. Commercial Consultant at the Academia Hi from 2013 to 2014. Receptionist and salesperson at the Academia Santé Club (2014 to 2015).

From 2015 to 2017, she worked in the Amazon region as a cook on tourist boats, leading the fusion of regional food with northeastern food.

Also in 2015, she worked as a bartender and cook at the Mãe Natureza Bar and Restaurant (Alter do Chão) and from 2016 to 2017 at the Alter do Chão Gastronomic Space Restaurant.

In 2019, she returned to work in the Administrative and Product Shipping sector at Ekilibre Amazônia.

Thais currently works as an artisan, cook, and secretary and project coordinator for ACRAA. She is also a founding member of ACRAA.

GO TO OUR DONATE PAGE TO SEE HOW TO COLLABORATE

MORE GREEN, MORE LIFE!

Rua Everaldo Martins, s/n., Bairro Carauari, Alter do Chão, Santarém-PA, CEP 68109-000.

contact@acraabrazil.org

ACRAA Volunteers

thor — Sun, 12 Jun 2022 04:44:11 +0000

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 17/22.

Leon working hard again. July 17/22.

Neto (left), Leon and Katiane. July 17/22.

Neto (left), Daki and Leon. July 17/22.

ACRAA nursery today. July 17/22.

Katiane making extra aeration holes in potting bag. Jul 17/22.

Neto, a regular volunteer at ACRAA. July 14/22.

Daki and Neto transplanting seedlings. July 14/22.

This is Leon, a tireless volunteer at ACRAA. Thank you Leon! July 14/22.

Daki lifting germinants from germination bed. June 27/22.

Germinants ready for potting. June 27/22.

Marzio and Katiane placing germinants into pots. June 27/22.

Letícia (UFOPA student) and Katiane (ACRAA's biologist) transplanting seedlings into larger bags. June 19/22.

Daki arranging seedling that have just been transplanted. June 19/22.

Letícia (left), Katiane, and Daki (right). June 19/22.

Daki with Paulo, who has contributed many hours of his time to ACRAA at no charge. May 2022

Diego (right) with Waldier, ACRAA's forester. Waldier volunteers both his time and expertice to ACRAA. May 2022

Marzio (taking photo), our volunteer from Italy, with Daki (center) and Gabi, a local volunteer. May 2022

Letícia (holding camera) with Iolanda (center) and Daki. Letícia and Iolanda are students in biology/environmental sciences at UFOPA and regular volunteers at ACRAA. May 2022

Iolanda transplanting seedling. May 2022

Danisa from Argentina transplanting seedlings. May 2022

Danisa (front left) next to Iolanda. Mica, one of ACRAA's associates and a dedicated volunteer, is piloting the boat. On a seed collection mission to the Ilha do Amor. May 2022

Daki, with Iolanda, Danisa and Mica behind. May 2022

Carbon Analysis

thor — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 19:28:53 +0000

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 as one way to bring capital and economic opportunities to this region — and in a manner that improves forest restoration, conservation, and sustainable development. Yes there is a carbon footprint associated with air travel to get here – lets take a look at that.

[1] We have a plan to implement this, and have already made numerous connections with people here that can help us. If you like the idea and can help financially, please do.

[2] Reforestation Tourism is the provision of guided and professionally led courses, workshops and excursions focusing on topics that advance the restoration and protection of native ecosystems in the Amazon, and on topics that allow communities to live in balance and harmony with the forest. As such a wide range of activities are included; from seed collection in the forest (with indigenous guides), work in our plant nursery, and of course tree planting – to, for example, assisting with the installation of an advanced solar power system for an agroforestry-based community. All these things will be important. Participants will also be encouraged to share their expertise in a two-way learning process. All of this will of course be detailed in a colorful brochure available in several languages.

[3] Not like British Columbia and Canada as a whole, where our economy is absolutely bursting with money – in very large part due to our extensive oil, gas, mining and other extraction industries.

CARBON FOOTPRINT OF AIR TRAVEL

There are several sites on the internet that offer a calculator for determing the carbon footprint of flights, here are the results from three of them. This analysis is for a return flight from Vancounver, Canada (YVR) to Santarém, Brazil (STM, 35 km from Alter do Chão, distance 8670 km), via Sao Paulo (GRU, this is the route you would most likely take). Flights from northern Europe would be about the same as, although slightly further (STM to Stockholm, Sweden = 9270 km), more direct routes to the Amazon via Fortaleza in north-east Brazil are available.

These sites calculate carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, which can be converted to Carbon (C) emissions by multiplying by 0.273. Note: tonnes below are metric tonnes = 1000 kg = 1 megagram (Mg).

Carbonfootprint.com

Carbonfootprint.com claims to be the web’s leading carbon footprint calculatior. Carbonfootprint.com calculator result = 3.81 tonnes CO2 (1.04 tonnes C).

See site here.

Myclimate.org

Myclimate.org is a Switzerland-based foundation that claims to consist of experts in sustainablity and climate protection. Myclimate.org calculator result = 4.6 tonnes CO2 (1.26 tonnes C).

See site here.

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

The IACO is a United Nations specialized agency that oversees the international civil aviation industry. ICAO calculator result = 1.4 tonnes CO2 (0.38 tonnes C)[4].

See site here.

Note the much lower value determined by the ICAO calculator. This calculator appears to only consider the fuel burned by the aircraft, when of course the total enery footprint of air travel is much greater than this. Based on the three-fold difference between the ICAO calculator and the others, its seems the latter two do consider this bigger picture.

Discussion

We will assume the highest carbon emissions value generated above is the one to consider when assessing the carbon footprint associated with traveling to the amazon (1.26 tonnes C for a round trip journey from Canada).

This is a substantial amount of carbon. But realize that reforesting one hectare deforested land in the amazon can lead to the capture 150 tonnes or more of carbon. See article on carbon storage in tropical forest here.

In fact, just a single tree, once established and allowed to grow to maturity, could capture all the emissions from such a journey.

Realize also that by participating in ACRAA’s reforestation tourism program you will not only be making a direct contribution through your time here, but also a large indirect contribution as the fee you pay for this program will support our other project activites.

Your presence here, as highly environmentally minded tourists, will also help to grow and promote a conservation ethic in this region. The money you spend on hotels, food and beverages, and just having fun – will help to create jobs and provide an input of capital to the region. In fact, spending money here on these things will actually be good for the forest.

In the end if a full analysis is done, and we do intend to attempt this, your travel to the amazon to help us will likely end up being carbon-negative – i.e., result, over the years following this adventure, in more carbon capture by forest than was emitted by the air travel to get here.

But in addition to supporting ACRAA’s programs, people in the wealthier nations of the world need to lobby thier governments to invest in the Amazon. Not just millions – but Billions. This support for projects and programs that promote forest protection and restoration, agroforestry development, and the protection of indigenous rights in the amazon [5]. In exchange for this Brazil needs to provide verifiable garantees that forest based values are being protected.

These weathier nations should do this not only out of a concern for this region’s people and biodiversity – but out of real self-interest now as well. This because the science is clearly showing us that the Amazon forest, along with other forests of the moist equatorial zone — is a key global climate regulator.

Below are links to two very recent articles, one in the world’s most prestigous journal, Nature, that highlight this very point.

Article in Nature (April 2022) – “Tropical forests have big climate benefits beyond carbon storage”

Article by CNN (April 2022) – “Crucial tropical forests were destroyed at a rate of 10 soccer fields a minute last year”

[4] The ICAO carbon emissions calcultor does not include destinations in Brazil. A value for this calculator for the YVR to STM (return) trip was therefore determined by entering a YVR to LHR (London Heathrow) trip for all three calculators, and then interpolating a value for the ICAO calculator based on the differences.

[5] And also just to help rebuild the highly degraded infastructure here.

Education

thor — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 11:37:35 +0000

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 our future “Center.” This will be a building located on the ACRAA property and serving as a meeting place and classroom, but also with facilities such as a soils and plant laboratory, a resouces library, and office space for visiting students and ACRAA personel. This building, combined with our plant nursery, will provide the venue for two initiatives we intend to start here – these being a form of eco-tourism we will call “Reforestation Tourism,” and the development of more advanced program in tropical reforestation and agroforestry development that we will call a “Tropical Reforestation Field School.”

To see a conceptual design for this centre click here.

To learn about our Reforestation Tourism Program click here.

Agroforestry

thor — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 19:14:04 +0000

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, for example, areas under soya cultivation in the amazon region) – without agroforestry development, will put global food security at risk. See Guardian article here.

It must be noted however, and this point was not mentioned in this Guardian article – that much of the worlds grain and soya production is used to feed livestock in INDUSTRIAL meat production. If overall, globally, people consumed a more plant-based diet – less agricultural land under such monoculture production would be required.

At ACRAA we have already started our work in the area of Agroforestry Development through the production of now hundreds of seedlings of over thirty different species. These are mostly fruit bearing trees, but also trees that produce timber for construction (an important component of agroforestry systems), as well as other plants such as for medicinal use. We have also already started to provide these seedlings to landowners and indigenous communities (free of charge).

Looking further down the road we do have a larger vision for agroforestry development, therefore we must define what we ultimately mean by Agroforestry in the context of the Amazon.

First, our vision of Agroforestry encompasses the same sentiments and philosophies with respect to caring for the land and preserving biodiversity as do disciplines such as Regenerative Agriculture (a), Permaculture (b), and Syntrophic Farming (c). For us here in the Amazon, this too means systems with trees and shrubs forming a dominant component of the vegetative cover; these areas will be be a forest. These systems will produce a wide range of products, many types of fruits and nuts, and even some timber. Traditional farm animals, such as chickens, pigs and cows, will be part of the system – important as a source of high value protein (milk, meat, eggs), but also of organic fertilizer for gardens (manure). There will be an allowance for a pasture component, but this will be small. Food-security and self-sufficiency for the “community” we want to see develop there, will be strived for. And the development of specific high value forest crops, such as cacao, spices, nuts and exotic oils will contribute to the economic viability. The Amazon has much to offer the world.

Ultimately, to design and develop such an agroforestry system ACRAA will need access to a larger area of land, such as through the purchase of soya acreage. We feel that through a synergy of potential revenue-generating tools, as explained in the ACRAA Forest Reserve / Model Agroforestry Research Farm section, such a project could be viable. See here.

a) Regenerative Agriculture. See here.

b) Permaculture. See here.

c) Syntrophic Farmimg. See here.

Reforestation

thor — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 17:29:00 +0000

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” in our plant nursery. In February 2022 we began to plant some of those first Comandá on beaches of Alter do Chão. More were planted in late 2022 and early 2023, and we have now planted about 100 trees on the Ilha do Amor.

[1] An important rule in ecological restoration is collect your seeds / planting material from the same (or nearby) site and ecological plant community that you intend to restore.