Project Update - October 2022
REPORTING BACK FROM THE AMAZON RAINFOREST
Dear friends of the Amazon,
I want to report back to you from a tumultuous and partly successful, partly unsuccessful journey to the North-Eastern Amazon Rainforest.
But before I go into the details, I would like you to take a look at this very recent article on Mongabay which is telling the story we have been telling for three and a half years: the dieback is real and we need to stop it or we lose this crucial planetary organ that pumps water, produces oxygen, sequesters greenhouse gases (at least when it is healthy) and holds the secret to so many attributes of yet unresearched plants and animals that could be incredibly beneficial to humanity in the decades to come, if we are able to turn things around in this Australia sized forest.
So, to recap, in January of this year the Future of the Amazon Foundation organized a small conference of about three dozen tribal chiefs from the 413.000 hectare Araribóia Indigenous Territory together with the world’s largest reforester: Eden Projects. This resulted in a first ambitious project to reforest 20.000 ha (60 x Central Park) of destroyed forests and a call to start collecting tree seeds to support this effort.
The first fifty five people were hired and projects started at several points in the area. Trees were planted at a rate of 60.000 in June and villages started to bring back so many bags of tree seeds that such a scale had to be largely stopped.
I visited several villages where especially the women had taken on tree planting and things were scaling up. Until I got the message that reforestation efforts were faltering due to lack of funding.
Right now we are busy organizing the first carbon credit project for the area and when it is approved it will mean an additional 16-20 million trees in the next few years. That would be a great acceleration and yet it would not be enough.
For this reason our great friend, Chief Ronilson Flay Guajajara organized a meeting with the chiefs of several other Indigenous territories in the wider area called the Mosaico Gurupi as they had expressed a passion to reforest their areas and would love to get support for this.
Not only would this be great for the area itself, if we are able to regrow the largely deforested areas near the Atlantic Ocean, the new forests will be able to draw in more humid air from the ocean through the so-called biotic pump function with a potential positive effect over an area the size of France and Germany together!
At the last minute the meeting had to be cancelled but we did talk to the coordinator of this vast area, and she assured that all of them would love to get support to protect and regenerate their area. She also invited us to a nice traditional Indigenous gathering with lots of beautiful youngsters dressing up in tribal attire.
ASKING FOR YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE WOMEN OF THE VILLAGE JUÇARAL
If all is successful, the carbon credit project will bring fresh finance to the area but it will take some time. So that is why we are asking you specifically for the women of Juçaral to donate money to buy them a solar pump with solar panel, 20.000 bags for seedlings and some other material to increases their seedling program.
I would be grateful if you could chip in to help bring that money together to organize this project of viral action together with my dear friend chief and shaman Ronilson Guajajara.
Chief Ronilson: ‘’TURNING AROUND THE SITUATION IN THE AMAZON IS IMPORTANT FOR THE WHOLE PLANET’’.
The Amazon Rainforest is near the tipping point of accelerated dieback. We cannot afford to lose the Amazon rainforest. It will speed up global warming, droughts, failed crops and mass migration. We still have a window of opportunity to protect and regenerate the forest if the world embraces the call to do so. We know how it can be done if we act at the size, speed the challenge the regeneration requires. The local people in the Amazon with the Indigenous people in the lead, can do it. We need to bring together technology and resources from around the world to get the job done. The regeneration can be done fast and will help to calm extreme weather and cool the climate within a generation.
With gratitude!
Rob de Laet
Future of the Amazon Foundation
https://futureoftheamazon.org/
WhatsApp: +55 71 992617846
The Future of the Amazon Foundation is registered at the Chamber of Commerce of Amsterdam, the Netherland, under number 82713820.
Financial contributions can be made to IBAN account NL50BUNQ2060049857 att: Future of the Amazon Foundation or via PayPal: info@futureoftheamazon.org.or for Brasil: PIX CPF 745016151-68
(this will be transferred later to the Brazilian project account or used for costs made in Brasil on behalf of the project).