Reforestation
Keep wild what’s already wild, rewild what’s been lost
Deforestation and forest degradation have taken a great toll across large parts of the Amazon as the global human footprint rapidly expands. Our approach to keeping the rainforest standing in southeastern Peru is twofold—first, we're working with our local communities to improve the management of more than 25,000 hectares of working forest used for the sustainable harvest of Brazil nuts. This forest is extraordinarily biodiverse, but overharvest of the nuts each year is threatening the long-term viability of this unique system that benefits both people and nature. Second, we are planting thousands of native trees where deforestation has already occurred that will one day afford crucial ecosystem services to those who depend on the rainforest, provide food and shelter for wildlife, and store carbon to mitigate climate change.
Our reforestation projects
The Brazil Nut Corridor Project
The so-called ‘Brazil Nut Corridor’ comprises more than one million hectares of rainforest in southeastern Peru that is dominated by Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) trees. Brazil nuts grow at such densities in this area that the extraction of their nuts from natural forest is commercially viable. As a result, the Peruvian government has designated most of this area as extractive reserves—"concessions“, as they're called in Peru—for the sustainable harvest of Brazil nuts, where the clearing of forest and other extractive activities are forbidden.
The Brazil Nut Corridor lies strategically between major protected areas of global significance, forming an important link between conservation units that are otherwise becoming increasingly isolated by agricultural expansion and other extractive industries. As the ASA has shown through its research and monitoring projects, these working Brazil nut forests are themselves important biodiversity areas, further strengthening the case for their protection.
Our Brazil Nut Corridor Project aims to secure the long-term viability of this important regional activity, both in ecological and economic terms.
Brazil Nut Corridor Project goals
Studying the diversity and biology of Amazonian butterfly and moth species involves work in the rainforest as well as the lab. Here, an ASA researcher examines a caterpillar at Finca Las Piedras - this is the first time the life cycle of this species has been documented.
Maintain the sustainability of the Brazil nut harvest
Decades of overharvest and a near total lack of replacement planting means that, as large trees die of old age, new trees are not growing in their place, threatening the long-term survival of Brazil nut forests in SE Peru. As the harvest diminishes, the value placed on these forests declines and pressure will mount, in turn, to convert them to other land uses. We are working with local Brazil nut concessionaires to plant young trees within their concessions, both by producing young Brazil nuts in our shadehouses at Finca Las Piedras and by training the concessionaires in silvicultural best practices to ensure they are able to carry out this important work themselves.
-
Maintain the sustainability of the Brazil nut harvest
-
Improve local livelyhoods
-
Secure the brazil nut corridor
Improve local livelihoods
A declining harvest over time will also bring economic decline, so reversing this trend benefits the families and communities that depend on the forest. If the long-term survival of the Brazil Nut Corridor is assured, then so too is a way of life in southeastern Peru that goes back generations.
Secure the Brazil Nut Corridor
Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that the Brazil Nut Corridor remains intact. This will ensure the protection of more than one million hectares of biodiverse rainforest, guarantee the survival of the region's most significant sustainable livelihood, and help retain connectivity between important protected areas and across the rest of SE Peru's increasingly fragmented forest landscape.
The Brazil Nut Corridor in southeastern Peru serves as an important forested link between major regional protected areas, including Manu National Park and the Tambopata National Reserve, as well as important reserves in neighboring Bolivia. By empowering local harvesters to better manage these working forests, we guarantee the long-term sustainability of this critical corridor for biodiversity while simultaneously boosting local livelihoods.
An incredible rainforest giant: The Brazil nut tree
Brazil nuts—the scientific name of the species is Bertholletia excelsa—grow on enormous emergent trees that are found throughout much of the Amazon rainforest. The nuts themselves are contained within cannonball-sized “cocos” that fall naturally to the forest floor each year during the wet season. A new Brazil nut tree results when a nut buried by an agouti—this is the only animal capable of accessing the nuts, which it does by chewing a large hole in the hard, woody coco—is forgotten and given the chance to germinate in the moist soil. Today, humans have replaced agoutis as the main seed predators of Brazil nuts, which are harvested and prized in markets worldwide for their excellent taste, nutrition, and culinary versatility.
Brazil nut facts...
-
Brazil nuts can reach 50 meters (>160 ft) or more in height and live for hundreds of years
-
One of their only pollinators is the orchid bee, so named because the males gather fragrances from orchid flowers that they use for wooing their mates. The orchids grow in, among other places, the crowns of Brazil nut trees!
-
The sprawling Brazil nut crown is also home to many other epiphytes—orchids, bromeliads, cacti, and even other trees, to name just a few
-
Many animals also depend on Brazil nut trees, from insects to birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, making it a keystone species in southeastern Peru
Workshop spotlight: Empowering our local Brazil nut harvesters
Local harvesters manage more than a million hectares of biodiverse rainforest in our region for the sustainable extraction of Brazil nuts. Given the intensive nature of the harvest each year, which negatively impacts the trees' reproduction and thus the long-term sustainability of this important activity, harvesters are required to plant young Brazil nuts in the areas they manage. This is no easy task, however, due largely to the difficulty in propagating the species. To solve this issue and thus empower our local harvesters to manage their forests more sustainably, we hold annual workshops to train Brazil nut harvesters in the techniques needed to maintain healthy Brazil nut populations over time, from seed tree selection to germination, sapling care, planting and long-term silvicultural treatments.
Project results to date
The Brazil Nut Corridor spans an enormous area, and maintaining its ecological and economic integrity is, by definition, a job that will never end. With that in mind, we are constantly expanding the number of Brazil nut harversters that we work with to maximize the long-term impact of the project. Here are a few highlights of our achievements to date--but we're expanding fast, so check back soon or follow us for updates!
37
BRAZIL NUT HARVESTERS TRAINED TO DATE
To manage their concessions sustainably
27
CONCESSIONS MANAGED
For improved, long-term Brazil nut production
>18,000
HECTARES OF BRAZIL NUT FOREST SECURED
For both people and nature in southeastern Peru
>1,700
YOUNG BRAZIL NUT TREES PLANTED
The future of the Brazil Nut Corridor
Help us expand the Brazil Nut Corridor
Our work to secure this critical area for both people and wildlife is made possible entirely by the donations of supporters like you. Please consider a contribution today and join us as we work to protect this forest, its incredible biodiversity, and the sustainable livelihoods that depend on it.
Special thanks to our key supporters
Many people and organizations make the Brazil Nut Corridor Project possible with their generous support. We'd especially like to thank the following, who have made a particularly significant contribution:
Forest restoration
Restoring the Amazon means planting trees—lots of them. We are planting native species that are threatened with unsustainable logging elsewhere, ensuring their long-term survival. Furthermore, unlike many other reforestation efforts in the tropics, we are planting in a way that rebuilds a healthy, functioning ecosystem, not a commercial tree plantation. We face many challenges—tropical weeds are tenacious and annual dry season fires grows more intense with each passing year—but the myriad benefits of a natural rainforest are worth the effort. Our reforestation efforts compliment our Brazil Nut Corridor Project, which together aim to keep the southeastern Peruvian landscape productive for both people and nature.
Restoration goals
Studying the diversity and biology of Amazonian butterfly and moth species involves work in the rainforest as well as the lab. Here, an ASA researcher examines a caterpillar at Finca Las Piedras - this is the first time the life cycle of this species has been documented.
Build back a home for biodiversity
A rainforest is more than just the trees that comprise it—it is a highly complex system
that is home to thousands of species of other plants and animals, and that varies
incredibly across both space and time. It is therefore important to plant many tree
species that have different values for wildlife, and to do so in a way that ensures the
forest’s future suitability for the community of organisms as a whole. Our tree-planting
efforts are carefully planned with this in mind, to restore a functional and highly
biodiverse Amazonian rainforest that will endure long into the future.
-
Build back a home for biodiversity
-
Protect endangered tree species
-
Store carbon to mitigate climate change
Protect endangered tree species
Unsustainable logging of prized tropical hardwoods for the international market is
driving many species to the brink of extinction across the Amazon. To address this,
we are planting species such as Spanish cedar, big-leaf mahogany, and ironwood,
among many others, to restore their populations and secure their future. Although
many of these valuable timber species continue to decline in many areas, they will
forever have a home in the areas in which we work.
Store carbon to mitigate climate change
Deforestation is one of the most important contributors to global climate change.
That's because trees store lots of carbon, and nowhere is the carbon storage
potential of trees greater than in the Amazon. Planting trees here is one of the best
ways we can mitigate the impacts of climate change, as many Amazonian trees grow
large and store their carbon for hundreds or even thousands of years, keeping it out
of the atmosphere and helping to restore balance to the global climate.
How do you rebuild a rainforest?
Restoring degraded land in the Amazon requires both hard work and good strategy. To maximize efficiency, we always start by taking advantage of young trees that have already established themselves naturally—we call this "assisted natural regeneration". Essentially, we save existing small trees from invasive grasses and other weeds that prevent their growth or even kill them. Where trees have not established, we plant them from stock that we produce in our shade house at Finca Las Piedras. Big-leaf Mahogany, Spanish Cedar, Ironwood, and, of course, Brazil Nut are a few of the locally-threatened species we produce. Then comes maintenance which, especially in the wet season, must be frequent—trees grow fast here but so do weeds! Finally, after several years or so, the trees we've cared for can fend for themselves and so we're free to move on to another area. Forest restoration here may be more labor-intensive than many other places, but the reward is the most biodiverse ecosystem that exists on our planet, so it's well worth it!
Restoration results to date
We’re working to transform our knowledge of biodiversity in southeastern Peru, no small task given both the region’s extraordinary species richness and a near total lack of previous studies. Although this is a long-term endeavor and will never be fully complete, we’re steadily making concrete gains towards our goals. These are a few highlights:
>74,000
TREES PLANTED AND PROTECTED TO DATE
A future rainforest that will provide for the needs of both people and other species
>45,000
TONS OF CO2 KEPT OUT OF THE ATMOSPHERE
Helping to mitigate the impacts of global climate change
>4,000
RAINFOREST SPECIES GIVEN A SAFE HOME
Those we've identified to date through our research, with many thousands more certainly awaiting discovery
Thanks to those who support forest restoration
Restoring the Amazon is hard work, but our community of Rainforest Champions has stepped up to make it possible in southeastern Peru. Special thanks to the following supporters, who have contributed in an especially big way: