Plant your tree: Atlantic Forest and Silva Jardim

Leaving for a travel always brings an hidden mixture of expectations. Deep inside, each of us hope to be positively surprised by a location, a person or an experience encountered on the way. This was also our mood after Rio de Janeiro, driving to Silva Jardim, but none of us would have ever expected such a blast. In this article we are going to talk about this special place, its community and all the initiatives that are taking place there.

Silva Jardim is a small town of 22.000 inhabitants, 110 km north east of Rio de Janeiro. After a prosper period in XIX century, given by a good trade in wood and sugar cane, the municipality has been ranked down to one of the poorest in Brazil. Walking through its streets, you can understand how many fields and properties have been abandoned.

Our goal is to spend time in farms and learn about permaculture, therefore our search of hosts is based more on the quality of the projects than the location itself. We didn't know much about this area but we liked the description of the "Fazenda dos Cordeiros" situated in Imbaú, a small fraction of Silva, and we decided to come.

We could list many reasons why this experience left a trace inside us but we want to focus on three of them, completely interconnected.

If you have never heard about the Atlantic Forest (in Portuguese Mata Atlântica) either you google it now or you read here further. Being already named in 1992 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, this forest has an extension of more than 110.000 hectares and is recognised as one of the richest and most unique tropical forest in the world. It covers only a 0,8% of the planet surface but is home to over 5% of vertebrates (2.200) and plants (15.700) species on Earth. And almost 50% of them are endemic, which means that they are present only in this specific biome.

The data that has shocked us the most is about its massive surface reduction due to agriculture and industrialisation, which has been deforested for more than 85% of its original extension (in certain area like São Paulo, only 3% remains).

To protect what is left, many natural reserves have been created in Silva Jardim, private and national, like the Poço das Antas. Once covering the entire territory, now the forest is divided in small pockets that need to be reconnected again to allow an interaction of the endangered animals.

This is the main aim of several associations and NGOs that we have seen operating here, like the Associação Mico Leão Dourado. One of their duties, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, is to control the authenticity and the origin of the plants and certificate the trees as indigenous.

Apart from this reforestation action, which is fundamental for Brazil and the entire continent, the Association has another task which is in the core of the name itself. In fact, Silva Jardim is one of only 8 municipality in the world where a really singular and impressive primate is present.

We are talking about the Golden Lion Tamarin (Mico Leão Dourado), an endemic endangered monkey, characterised by its bright reddish orange pelage and the extra long hair around the face and ears. There are only 3.200 units left (200 in 1981) and they became the symbol of Silva Jardim, headquarters of the Research Centre and where even the phone boxes have its shape.

These apes are not used to the human presence and they cannot move on the ground but they live their entire life on branches, jumping from tree to tree. This is why the process of reforestation is so valuable for this animal, in order to grow in number again, avoiding the risk of extinction.

Silva Jardim and its community have seen a resource in the Mico Leão. Although there are many obstacles, like a lack of ecological conscience, some key persons are trying to unite associations and simple citizens to improve the local economy and to develop the entire city net in a more sustainable way.

The Brazilian note of 20 Reais with the Mico Leão

This is why Silva Jardim Sustentavle has born! A committee that follows the directions of Agenda21, a significant document with 40 goals to reach within 2030, promoted worldwide by the United Nations and confirmed once more by the Paris Treat. Raising awareness of the residents and realising an improved infrastructure for eco-tourism are two simple examples of these goals.

If you made it until here, please take this last step too.

What we learned and understood in these three full weeks is the importance of a small daily contribution of everybody to the community. Each individual is meaningful to reach a higher equity in our common living and to improve the quality of the environment.

Exactly like we did, planting our first banana tree and try to exchange a different cultural view, giving and learning at the same time.

Don’t you feel like planting your own tree now?

Thank you for reading.

We want to wish you Merry Christmas, happy new year and Risk Curiosity!