The UN (United Nations) recognized forest restoration work in the Atlantic Forest as one of the most promising and relevant in the world, naming it the World Restoration Flagship of the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration. The work is led by the Pact for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest (PACTO) and the Trinational Network for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest, which includes organizations from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The announcement was made on Tuesday, December 13, during the UN Conference on Biodiversity (COP15), held in Montreal, Canada.
In a context of climate change, the jungle is an ally to best face the associated impacts, in pursuit of people’s well-being and quality of life. Therefore, landscape restoration will help to have a forest in good condition for nature and people.
With the goal of restoring 15 million hectares by 2050, PACTO is a coalition that brings together more than 300 multisectoral organizations to restore the Atlantic Forest, and the Trinational Atlantic Forest Restoration Network is a multisectoral movement that covers the Alto Trinational Ecoregion. Paraná in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, with 30 organizations*. The members of the collectives have more than 30 years of experience in restoration in different socioeconomic and ecological contexts.
For Lucía Lazzari, coordinator of terrestrial landscapes at Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, one of the representative organizations of the Trinational Network for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest in Argentina, being distinguished as a Global Emblematic Initiative in Global Restoration is recognition of many years of work. “It is a door to new opportunities that allow promoting the restoration of the Atlantic Forest and generating more benefits. The trinational action is a differential in our way of working, it is through this multi-institutional construction and allied with various organizations that we have made important progress in recent years. In order to lead and promote true processes of conservation and restoration of the Atlantic Forest, our missionary jungle, it is essential that local communities are informed and involved. They are the true agents of change”, comments Lazzari.
“All over the world, our forests are under siege,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. “The restoration of the Atlantic Forest through the involvement of local communities is a powerful reminder that nature can heal when given the chance, and offers enormous benefits in the process.”
Restoration initiatives in the Atlantic Forest also promote species conservation, increase landscape connectivity, improve water quality, environmental education, local community participation and well-being, among other social and environmental benefits. Both collectives also bring initiatives aimed at raising funds, monitoring the quality of restored forests, and building partnerships for large-scale, long-term restoration.
The UN title recognizes not only the legacy of restoring the Atlantic Forest, but also highlights that the networks’ current initiatives strengthen coalitions and a strong conservation strategy, aligned with the Decade of Action Plan for Forest Restoration. UN Ecosystems.
The Atlantic Forest is one of the forests with the greatest diversity of life on the planet. It extends along the eastern coast of Brazil and penetrates inland towards Argentina – Paranaense or Misionera Jungle – and Paraguay. More than 148 million people live and depend socially, culturally and economically on the environmental services (water, energy, soil protection, among others) provided by the Atlantic Forest. Its biological richness is very varied, it contains 7% of the plant species and 5% of the vertebrate animal species in the world. Many of these plants and animals are endemic, meaning they don’t exist anywhere else on our planet.
It is made up of 15 ecoregions- where unique species of plants and animals abound such as the jaguar, the tapir, the anteater, the yacutinga, among others. Originally it covered 1,345,300 km2. However, in the last 40 years it was significantly reduced – due to deforestation, urbanization, production – and today only 17% of the original forests remain.
The process of degradation and deforestation of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil began almost 500 years ago with the overexploitation of timber species going through different economic cycles. In Paraguay and Argentina it happened recently around 100 years ago, due to deforestation and land use change. The three countries still face challenges for the conservation of
the ecoregion, landscape restoration being an opportunity to increase forest cover and improve people’s quality of life.
In this link you can download images of the Atlantic Forest.
For inquiries on this topic, contact:
Lorena Papalardo (Wildlife): lorena.papalardo@vidasilvestre.org.ar
Source: inncontext.net