The restoration of the Atlantic Forest is a major issue
The Atlantic Forest is one of the great Brazilian biomes, but according to the Instituto SOS Mata Atlântica, only 12.4% of the original forest still exists today. With the aim of restoring the biodiversity of the native fauna and flora, several organizations are working in environmental preservation areas and also in the recovery of private areas where the owners are committed to ESG guidelines. And it is precisely in an area of the Atlantic Forest that our start-up Morfo, which uses technology for large-scale reforestation, has inaugurated its work in Brazil, with the Instituto Terra e Preservação Ambiental (ITPA) and Cachaça Pindorama as partners.
An innovative project that combines drone planting and manual planting
The project covers 50 hectares of the Fazenda Palmas, in the Vale do Café region of Rio de Janeiro. To accelerate the planting, Morfo developed a unique drone planting technique that, for optimal results, must work in collaboration with local organizations. In this 50-hectare project, 75% of the area was replanted by drones and 25% was replanted with the help of local people already working on site. All this in record time and efficiency.
ITPA provides MORFO with advanced knowledge of the Mata Atlantica biome, access to a nursery that complements drone planting with manual planting, and the recruitment of local people to carry out the manual part of the planting. This Brazilian family organization has over 20 years of experience in tree planting. It has already contributed to the restoration of one million hectares of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most degraded forests in the world.
It is urgent to accelerate our reforestation processes
Morfo offers a large-scale solution for ecosystem restoration, primarily in the tropics and subtropics, and its approach is based on three main pillars:
- Forest engineering, which includes continuous improvement of seed analysis.
- Drone technology, allowing faster access to reforestation areas.
- Project monitoring, which uses artificial intelligence through drone and satellite imagery.
To reach the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's target of 35% of the carbon absorption capacity of forests by 2030, 80 million hectares of new forests would need to be planted each year. However, according to the UN, only 8 million hectares are reforested each year, and it is essential to implement solutions to accelerate this process. In this project, reforestation is concentrated in an area located north of the Tinguá Biological Reserve, specifically in the municipality of Miguel Pereira. This corridor is one of the main sources of fresh water and energy for the city of Rio de Janeiro. The Guandu basin, fed by this corridor, provides 80% of the city's water and 30% of its energy.
Follow the progress of our reforestation project at Miguel Pereira by clicking here.
Image source: MORFO
