Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

The Black Jaguar Foundation is proud to highlight the week-long contributions of two remarkable young changemakers: Cala and Kenzie. They showed spirit of dedication and innovation, helping us to make connections to the younger generations, connecting to their school and participating in events. They serve as a true example for to their peers, making sure our planet can flourish for future generations.

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

Our initiator, Ben Valks, was invited by Peggy De Rop, Director of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Brazil (Dutcham), to join the jury for the 4th edition of the Orange Academy Award!

The program is developed with the support of the Rotterdam School of Management and Erasmus University in the Netherlands, aiming to bring together young professionals to share knowledge, learn, and grow.

Over 8 weeks, talents – selected from various prominent Dutch companies in Brazil – engage in immersive and interactive online sessions with experienced speakers from diverse fields.

At the end of the period, participants work in groups to present a case study to a professional jury during the graduation ceremony. Winners are rewarded with a discovery trip to the Netherlands!

We would like to thank Peggy De Rop for the opportunity to share knowledge alongside such inspiring young professionals!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

Santa Fé Farm was the first properties to become a partner of the Black Jaguar Foundation, back in 2016. Time to document this successful partnership in an amazing video and share our work together with you! Check it out:

Their commitment to nature led the Agropastoril do Araguaia group to believe in our ecological restoration project, the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor, and to support the initiative.

In the 2018/2019 planting season, we launched our Pilot Project at Fazenda Santa Fé, planting 20,000 trees. The results are already visible, including satellite images!

Since then, the work has continued to progress. By the 2022/2023 planting season, 120,000 trees had been planted across approximately 60 hectares. Witness the before and after:

Fazenda Santa Fé also became home to the second nursery of the Black Jaguar Foundation. The property housed thousands of seedlings produced by our field team, which now grow and contribute to the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor!

But the work doesn’t stop there! In addition to ongoing activities at the farm, we are also monitoring areas approaching 5 years of age. Check out some images of the established forest:

Seeing these excellent results only motivates us to work even harder towards completing the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor. We hope these success stories inspire others to support our project. Donate trees and join us!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

The technical team from Caixa Federal Bank’s Socio-Environmental Fund, visited the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor to witness the transformative impact of the work we are conducting in the region!

During the visit, the team met with our collectors from Ressemear (Araguaia Seed Network), visited schools where we conduct environmental classes, and toured the restoration areas from previous planting seasons. We would like to thank Glauciane Verdolim and Denise de Souza dos Santos for their visit and support to our project! Together we are planting and growing 1 million native trees.

We began in Caseara (Tocantins), visiting the Onalício Barros settlement. There, our partners had the opportunity to speak with Maria do Socorro and Janderlan, a collector couple from Ressemear (Araguaia Seed Network), witnessing firsthand the crucial role of Black Jaguar Foundation in environmental education and in generating income and opportunities for local communities.

Next, in Santana do Araguaia (PA), our visitors accompanied us to the local APAE (Association of Parents and Friends of the Exceptional). This year, we conducted an environmental education event on Earth Day, where children had the chance to plant native trees.

We then visited the D. Elisa Infant School, where we celebrated Water and Forest Day with lectures and distribution of native seeds to 460 children aged 4 to 6.

Still in Santana do Araguaia, we visited a restoration area that is 2 years old. There, our visitors witnessed the direct results of the restoration cycle in a permanent preservation area by a reservoir, where a well-established restoration is already apparent.

The day concluded with a visit to the Black Jaguar Foundation Nursery, where Norivânia Diniz, seedling production analyst, explained the germination and production processes of thousands of native seedlings for the upcoming planting season.

The last day of the visit was dedicated to a roundtable discussion with seed collectors in the riverside region of Barreira do Campo, along the banks of the Araguaia River. Eunice, Pedro Gomes, Creusa Guevara, her daughter Andreia, Aldeir Dias, and eight other collectors shared their experiences, challenges, and achievements in the seed network.

Eunice and Creusa shared their experiences since the inception of the collection group, emphasizing the importance of expanding the customer base and seed demand to ensure collectors’ income. Aldeir, meanwhile, recounted his journey of overcoming health issues and his new role in the group, overseeing negotiations with external buyers and other partners.

Throughout the week, Caixa’s visitors and the Black Jaguar Foundation team had the opportunity to witness firsthand the transformation that ecological restoration work brings to the Araguaia region.

The stories of seed collectors, beneficiaries of environmental education actions, and community leaders served as inspiration and reinforced the organization’s commitment to environmental preservation and social development.

The Black Jaguar Foundation team extends heartfelt thanks to all who contribute to the success of restoration efforts, especially to Caixa’s Socio-Environmental Fund for their support of our mission in the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor, and to the communities of Araguaia for their warm welcome and the opportunity to share their stories.

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

We are very excited to introduce you to Brazilië Reis Specialist (BRS). A Dutch travel organization specializing in customized travel to Brazil. Brazilië Reis Specialist has its roots in Brazil, as the founder of BRS is of Brazilian-Dutch origin and has been traveling to Brazil for over thirty years.

Brazilië Reis Specialist supports sustainable tourism and the protection of Brazil’s natural treasures. Their mission is not only to let travelers experience the breathtaking beauty of Brazil, but also contribute to its preservation. That’s why they choose to support Black Jaguar Foundation – by booking a trip with them, you directly contribute to the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor.

Find out more about the Brazilië Reis Specialist here.

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

Today we want to spotlight an amazing family that has been supporting us throughout the years and that serves as an example to many of us!

Fred Stammeshaus is a social entrepreneur who initiated numerous local initiatives both in the Netherlands and around the world, with social and environmental impact. He got to know the Black Jaguar Foundation some years ago and is now proudly supporting BJF by donating trees, compensating his carbon footprint and those of others, as well as supporting our mission by spreading the word.

Fred is therefore serving as an true example that by supporting us every now and then with some trees, you can make a huge difference for us!

A BIG APPLAUSE for the whole Stammeshaus-Wietsma family and the support giving to our mission. We hope you are as inspired by this family as we are!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

It’s International Biodiversity Day! And, in addition to explaining the importance of biodiversity, we want to show how the work we do, and that you support, contributes to the maintenance and preservation of biodiversity in the Amazon Forest and Cerrado Savanna.

From the plankton in our seas to the jaguars skulking through our forests, biodiversity is the varied and distinct totality of all life forms on earth.

For any ecosystem to remain healthy and alive, it must maintain its biodiversity. This is because different species perform different tasks within an ecosystem, and it is the culmination of all these tasks that keep the ecosystem functioning and alive.

Just like how a multinational business wouldn’t be able to run without a combination of CEO’s, managers and interns – an ecosystem can’t survive without a synergetic mix of predators and prey, herbivores and omnivores, flora and fauna.

Healthy ecosystems provide us with critical services and natural products necessary for international human survival.  For instance, our rainforests provide us with clean water, oxygen, food and medicine.

Our goal is not just to reforest, but to ecologically restore Araguaia. Each hectare of land to be restored is mapped so that we can plant a wide variety of species.

Currently, in our projects, we use more than 70 native trees. Most of them are purchased directly from our seed network, Ressemear. And we often join the collectors and go on expeditions with the aim of mapping new seed species for the production of seedlings in our nursery. Of these, some groups adapted to waterlogged soil conditions and others to drier places.

Recently, we found 7 species that grow in the flooded areas of the Araguaia River and that can be used in our restoration projects – increasing the biodiversity of our plantations.

And the results can already be seen when we visit the restoration areas. Trees that were not planted by us are already growing, animals are seen and little by little we are transforming the landscape on the banks of the Araguaia River.

If you want to be part of this change, support the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor! Your contribution will allow biodiversity to be preserved and the Amazon Forest and Cerrado to be recovered!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

The importance of preserving the Araguaia River was highlighted in the most watched brazilian newscast – and Dona Eunice, collector of Ressemear, too!

Watch the full report (in portuguese) here.

An active collector of Ressemear (Araguaia Seed Network), Dona Eunice was one of those interviewed by the team of journalists and highlighted the importance of ecological restoration to preserve and recover the Araguaia River:

“Man deforested, took away the rain, because you know that if the trees are gone, the rain also decreases. Our interest is that they come and reforest, because then the rain comes and there is no shortage of water in this river”, he explains.

As she told the report, Dona Eunice lives on the banks of the Araguaia River and goes out on a boat every week looking for fish to eat and to sell. And over the years, he realized that the area around the river is undergoing changes.

And it is to change this story that the Black Jaguar Foundation has been working for more than 5 years to restore the banks of the Araguaia River and, in this way, create one of the largest ecological corridors in the world: the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor. And Dona Eunice is part of this initiative – she is one of the collectors of Ressemear, a seed network mobilized by the organization.

The project began with the objective of acquiring native seeds that could be used for planting seedlings and direct sowing. After mobilizing communities and offering training, she and her family learned how to collect and store the most different species of seeds from the Amazon Forest and Cerrado to then sell to the organization.

See what she says about the importance of the work carried out in partnership with the Black Jaguar Foundation:

According to recent studies, with each passing year, one of the most important river basins in Brazil is having difficulty recovering water flow during rainy periods.

And as Dona Eunice said, the solution to recovering the Araguaia River and its tributaries is to restore the Amazon Forest and the Cerrado – and that is what the Black Jaguar Foundation works for every day!

And you can support our project: donating trees, sharing our content or becoming part of the First 600 helps us expand the Black Jaguar Foundation Community. Together, we can recover the Araguaia River, the Amazon Forest and the Cerrado!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

The Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor Impact Study, conducted by a renowned group of scientists from USP (University São Paulo) and the University of Illinois, was featured in Elsevier, one of the most important magazines in the world, specialized in scientific and technical content.

The research seeks to quantify and understand the economic, social and environmental impacts of the corridor, as well as the cost of carrying out this ambitious project. And believe me: the benefits of ecological restoration of these 1 million hectares of the Amazon Forest and Cerrado reach 21 billion dollars!

Read the full impact study here!

Check out some results from this study:

• The benefits brought by the restoration of the Araguaia Corridor are estimated at 21 billion dollars. To calculate these benefits, we take into account the social cost of avoided carbon (17.1 billion dollars); the reduction of soil erosion (1.2 billion saved) and the additional revenue generated through agroforestry and sustainable wood management systems (2.7 billion dollars).
• The total cost of creating the Araguaia Corridor is estimated at 2.2 billion. For every dollar invested, the Corridor will bring a return of 9.5 dollars in avoided environmental damage and income generation for the locality.
• More than 262 million tons of carbon will be captured, which is equivalent to 8% of Brazil’s goal in the Paris Agreement.
• $15 million in municipal revenue will be generated and at the project’s peak, more than 37,000 local jobs will be created.

Furthermore, the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor:

Our project is ambitious, but, more than that, it is necessary to mitigate the effects of climate change and the time to act is now! In order for us to restore nearly a million hectares in the coming decades, we need your support.

Join the BJF Community. Donate trees, be part of the First 600, or help promote the Black Jaguar Foundation to your friends and family!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.