The most widely occupied and destroyed Brazilian biome has just been recognized as a worldwide example of restoration. The Atlantic Forest has joined the UN list of 10 reference initiatives in nature recovery thanks to the joint work of the Pact for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest and the Trinational Network for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest, which has organizations from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

The multisectoral and transnational coalition "Trinational Pact of the Atlantic Forest" brings together social and environmental organizations, companies, research centers and government agencies in commitments to leverage the restoration of ecosystems in one of the most important and diverse tropical forests on the planet, a critical region for both biodiversity and the economy, concentrating 145 million inhabitants and more than 70% of the country's GDP.

The announcement was made on Tuesday (13) during the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity of the UN (COP15), held in Montreal, Canada. Together, the 10 Initiatives aim to restore more than 68 million hectares —an area larger than Myanmar, France or Somalia—and create nearly 15 million jobs.

"The Atlantic Forest brings together 5% of the world's vertebrates, 7% of the plants, many of which are endemic. For example, of the more than 20,000 plant species in the region, 40% of them are only found in the biome. In addition, conservation is closely associated with the generation of income and sustainable products. A recent research of the Pact with partners revealed that if Brazil meets its national goal of restoring 12 million hectares, this could generate up to 2.5 million jobs and leverage production chains," Taruhim Quadros, representative of the Trinational Atlantic Forest Restoration Network, told One Planet.

More ambitious, the Pact, launched in 2009, seeks to restore 15 million hectares by 2050. In all, according to the expert, almost 1 million hectares have already been reproduced. The project was chosen from 156 global proposals that together represent more than 96 million hectares restored and with the potential to generate more than 1.5 million green jobs. In addition to the Atlantic Forest initiative, initiatives in Africa, Oceania, Central America, the Middle East and Asia have also been named as a reference for world restoration initiatives in Africa, Oceania, Central America, the Middle East and Asia.

"Initiatives [in the Atlantic Forest] are creating wildlife corridors for endangered species such as the jaguar and the golden lion tamarin, ensuring water supply for people and nature, fighting and building resistance to climate change and creating thousands of jobs," UNEP, the UN's environment arm, said in a statement.

Recognized projects are eligible to receive UN support, funding, or technical expertise and show how networking can help the world rewrite a new story for ecosystems degraded by human action, with benefits for nature and people. Taruhim highlights the role of restoration production chains in promoting opportunities. "We are talking about the seed collector, the seed beneficiary, the viveiristas who are producing the seedlings, the planters and restaurateurs, in addition to the researchers who do the monitoring, the rural producer that generates ecosystem services, such as water security, but also agroforestry products", he says.

Taruhim hopes that with un recognition it will help scale sustainable production systems and nature-based solutions. She cites the example of a yerba mate processing project carried out by traditional communities in Paraguay that use knowledge to add value to the product. "These and other initiatives already exist and we hope that the recognition of the UN will help us to give more visibility and scale these solutions," he said.

Source: Um só Planeta