On June 1, Rituals, the global wellbeing and cosmetics brand, demonstrated the power of collective action by supporting Hike4Nature during their Global Impact Day.

While team Hike4Nature embarked on its extraordinary 2,600 km journey from Amsterdam to Shanghai to Lisbon, Rituals HR employees across 10 cities around the world took thousands of steps of their own in support of the very same mission.

Rituals team taking action for Hike4Nature

Together, they walked the symbolic distance of 2,600 kilometers — the exact length of the Black Jaguar Foundation’s Biodiversity Corridor and the same distance team Hike4Nature will cover during its inspiring journey across Europe.

One day. One distance. One shared purpose.

From Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Paris and Shanghai to five other cities around the world, Rituals employees came together to walk, fundraise, and support nature restoration.

More than 200 Rituals employees even created their own fundraising campaigns for Hike4Nature, mobilizing colleagues, friends, and family members around a shared purpose.

As one Rituals employee beautifully expressed:

“I am hiking with my amazing Rituals HR teams in support of a greener planet! Every kilometer walked contributes directly to the reforestation efforts of the Black Jaguar Foundation.”

The enthusiasm, energy, and commitment shown by the Rituals teams demonstrated how companies can unite employees around a common purpose and create meaningful impact for nature.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Anne Jaakke, CHRO of Rituals, and everyone involved across the globe for making this inspiring initiative such a great success.

Together, you have shown that every step truly counts.

Join Hike4Nature with your company

Interested in joining Hike4Nature with your company?

Simply send an email to m.scottini@black-jaguar.org or info@hike4nature.nl and discover how your teams can contribute to realizing the longest biodiversity corridor on Earth.

Black Jaguar Foundation founder Ben Valks joined the episode “The Severed Lifeline: Rebuilding a Fragmented Amazon” on the Rewildology podcast, an international platform focused on stories, research, and initiatives related to conservation and ecological restoration around the world. 

In the episode, journalist Brooke Mitchell explores how Amazon fragmentation is affecting biodiversity, local communities, and the future of the forest. Throughout the conversation, experts and local leaders share perspectives on conservation, ecological connectivity, and large-scale restoration. 

Alongside Ben Valks, the episode also features Juliana Martins, road ecologist and PhD candidate at Imperial College London, and Bruno Paladines, coordinator of the Amazon Platform at Nature and Culture International. 

Representing the Black Jaguar Foundation, Ben shares the vision behind the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor — one of the world’s largest ecological restoration initiatives — which aims to reconnect the Amazon and Cerrado across 2,600 km. 

The conversation highlights how large-scale restoration goes far beyond planting trees. It involves restoring soils and water systems, strengthening biodiversity, and building long-term collaboration with farmers, local communities, and technical teams working to regenerate the landscape. 

The episode also reinforces the essential role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in protecting forests, showing how lasting solutions depend on collective action, territorial knowledge, science, and long-term commitment. 

The impacts of this restoration are already becoming visible in areas where native species — including giant anteaters, tapirs, and jaguars — are beginning to return. 

🎧 Listen to the episode on Rewildology 

▶️ Watch on YouTube 

Rio Web Summit 2026 will bring together thousands of participants, startups, investors, companies, and global leaders to discuss the future of technology, innovation, sustainability, and climate action. This year, biodiversity and ecological restoration will also play a central role in these conversations — and the Black Jaguar Foundation will be part of that dialogue. 

On June 11, BJF will participate in two panels exploring the connections between nature, climate, and the economy, reinforcing the role of ecological restoration as a key solution for a more resilient future. 

Save the date! At 2:40 PM, Sonia Guajajara, Prof. Carlos Nobre (BJF ambassador) and representatives from The Earthshot Prize will discuss how the biodiversity crisis is directly impacting economies and businesses worldwide. The session “The biodiversity crisis is a business crisis” will bring together experts, leaders, and international representatives to discuss how biodiversity loss is affecting supply chains, businesses, economies, and quality of life around the world.

Later, at 3:25 PM, during the session “Restoring the planet’s longest biodiversity corridor”, Prof. Carlos Nobre and Ben Valks will present the vision behind the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor — a 2,600-km initiative reconnecting the Amazon and Cerrado through large-scale restoration. 

Black Jaguar Foundation’s participation at Rio Web Summit reflects how ecological restoration is increasingly becoming part of global conversations around innovation, climate, development, and the future of our planet. 

Would you like to follow the event? Learn more on the official Rio Web Summit website 

Only 3 days to go… The amazing Hike4Nature campaign is about to officially begin! Humberto Tan, TV personality and BJF Ambassador, will give the official start signal.

On 1 June, Rituals, the global wellbeing and cosmetics brand, will support Hike4Nature by having employees around the world walk a combined 2,600 kilometers during their Global Impact Day – the exact distance of the Black Jaguar Foundation’s Biodiversity Corridor.

This symbolic distance reflects the full length of the Black Jaguar Foundation’s Biodiversity Corridor – a mission to reconnect nature at scale in Brazil.

2,600 kilometers is also the distance the Hike4Nature team will cover during their extraordinary walk from Amsterdam to Lisbon. As they take their first steps, they will be symbolically joined by Rituals employees around the world.

One day. One distance. One shared purpose.

Now, let’s make this movement even bigger.

“As a global HR community at Rituals, we have the power to connect and create impact. With Hike4Nature, we walk together for 2,600 km, the same distance as Esther’s journey and the lifeline where the Black Jaguar Foundation restores nature. Every step counts. Join us, activate your network, and let’s make a real difference together.”

Anne Jaakke, CHRO at Rituals

This partnership highlights the power of collective action, showing how individuals and organizations can come together
to support nature restoration and create meaningful impact. 

We invite your company to take part in Hike4Nature by getting your teams moving and contributing to this collective journey to help make the world’s largest biodiversity corridor a reality. 

Step by step. Team by team. 

Interested? Simply send an email to info@hike4nature.nl 

The Black Jaguar Foundation welcomed a delegation of four consultants from GOPA AFT, a German consulting firm involved in the project “Innovation in Agricultural Production Chains for Forest Conservation in the Amazon (Sustainable Supply Chains)”.  

Supported by the German development bank KFW and executed by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in partnership with Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and food supply (MAPA) the initiative aims to support rural landowners across the Legal Amazon in developing more sustainable soy, cattle, and timber supply chains.  

During the visit to Santana do Araguaia, Tomas Inhetvin, Fábio Rodrigo da Silveira, Mariana Barbosa Vilar, and Michel Gondim Oliveira explored active restoration areas within the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor, visited BJF’s large-scale seedling nursery, and met with seed collectors from the Araguaia Seed Network (Ressemear), the seed network mobilized by the Black Jaguar Foundation in the region. The delegation also joined field monitoring activities in restored areas, where camera traps were installed and signs of wildlife presence offered firsthand evidence of how restored areas are coming back to life.  

Beyond the exchange with BJF’s technical teams, the visit also included a meeting with one of BJF’s partner farmers and a conversation with the Mayor of Santana do Araguaia, demonstrating how large-scale ecological restoration becomes possible when rural landowners, local government, and local organisations work together.  

The visit strengthen connections between initiatives working toward shared goals: supporting rural landowners in the environmental regularization of their properties to scale up ecological restoration across the Amazon biome.  

As the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor continues to grow, the Black Jaguar Foundation has taken the first concrete steps toward developing our ‘2nd Hub of Restoration’  in the Araguaia region. Expanding our long-term restoration presence across the landscape.

Earlier this year, we signed an institutional partnership with the Municipal Secretariat of Environment and Water (SEMMA) of Lagoa da Confusão, in the state of Tocantins (Brazil). The agreement represents an important milestone in strengthening long-term collaboration around ecological restoration and scaling restoration efforts across the region.

The partnerships create the foundation for expanding BJF’s operational presence in Lagoa da Confusão, including plans to establish a new large-scale forest nursery and the infrastructure needed to support restoration activities throughout the surrounding landscape.

This future hub is expected to play an important role in increasing native seedling production capacity, supporting field operations, strengthening local restoration initiatives, and enabling the geographic expansion of restoration efforts within the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor.

Beyond infrastructure, the partnership also reinforces the importance of collaboration between local governments, technical teams, rural landowners, and restoration initiatives working toward shared environmental goals in the Amazon-Cerrado transition region.

As restoration efforts continue to expand, partnerships like this are essential for creating the long-term structure and local support needed to restore ecosystems at scale.

With another rainy season coming to an end, it’s time to celebrate the results of the 2025/2026 planting season and start preparing for the next one. Over the past six months, 294.69 hectares have been restored and 590,000 trees have been planted within the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor. This season for the first time ever, we achieved our planting-goal even before the rainy season ended! This achievement is the result of a collective effort that brings together planning, seedling production, seed collection, and the dedication of our field team, rural producers, and local communities. Other than that, the great result and learnings of this past planting season lay the foundation for exceptional growth next year and beyond.

Over the next three years, these areas will receive ongoing maintenance and monitoring to ensure each species can establish, thrive, and play its role in restoring the Amazon and Cerrado landscapes.

Making this season possible required a major collective effort: 290,000 seedlings were produced in our nursery, while 3.14 tons of seeds were sourced through the BJF Araguaia Seed Network.

Each restored hectare represents tangible progress toward our mission and a stronger future for biodiversity in the Araguaia region.

During expeditions across southern Pará and western Tocantins, we worked side by side with Ressemear collectors to identify species with strong potential for restoration in seasonally flooded areas.

Drawing on local ecological knowledge built through hands-on experience observation, and experimentation, collectors suggested species adapted to wet environments – expanding the possibilities for restoration in these landscapes.

Branches were collected for botanical identification, and seeds are now undergoing germination tests in the nursery. We are closely monitoring the development of these species to assess their performance both in seedling production and in the field.

So far, more than 30 species have been identified. Some have already stood out for their ability to thrive under prolonged flooding conditions, helping increase biodiversity in future plantings.

This process highlights the essential role of local communities in restoration and shows how combining technical expertise with local knowledge creates more effective, diverse, and resilient solutions.

Scaling restoration requires scaling seedling production. That is why the Black Jaguar Foundation nursery in Santana do Araguaia is undergoing a new phase of expansion.

Structural and operational improvements have already increased production capacity from 500,000 to 650,000 seedlings per season.

Recent upgrades include raised beds for better seedling development and management, irrigation improvements for greater control and stability, windbreak installations, a newly drilled well, and electrical system enhancements. A new transition area between shade and full sun has also reduced mortality risks and improved seedling quality.

Additional improvements are planned throughout the year to support continued growth. Reaching 1.2 million seedlings per season will be a major milestone — allowing more hectares to be restored and accelerating the development of the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor.