iGiveTrees has supported smallholder nursery, reforestation and agroforestry projects in rural Brazil since 2010. Past field partners have been sharing best practices with one another while also teaching neighbors in their communities in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Goiás in Brazil. Now we are focused upon support for native tree seed collection in the Amazonian state of Acre.
Native seed collection in the Brazilian Amazon
With funds raised by iGiveTrees this year, Ashaninka native tree seed collectors now have climbing equipment to harvest seeds safely and efficiently. Photos below are from prior years, pre-pandemic, in a different part of the forest when they were last able to do large scale seed collection. Since purchasing new climbing equipment for the 2023 harvest, they still need funds to train teams how to safely climb for the treetop harvests, as well as transport them to remote areas for collection. Then seeds must be cleaned, sorted and taken to a laboratory where they are tested for viability before being sent to nurseries where they will be propagated for planting.
“One of the main meetings I had during the Amazon Dialogues was with Francisco, Wewito and João, from the Ashaninka tribe, which is one of the projects we support. Their leadership in the region of Acre and very efficient organization have, for a long time, had a high impact in spreading traditional seeds and agroforestry techniques.” ~ Leo Andrade iGiveTrees Brazilian Project Advisor
Amazon Dialogues
From Aug. 4-6, 2023 more than 5,000 people participated in a pre-summit called Amazon Dialogues, including representatives of Indigenous communities, social movements, academia, research centers and government agencies. According to a government statement, its purpose is to “deliver the voice of the people” to the heads of state to help guide the strategies formed during the Amazon Summit.
Read an article by Sarah Brown for MONGABAY: “Amazon Summit sparks hope for coordinated efforts from the rainforest nations”