Watch this video to learn more about how we gather the seeds we need for our restoration project:

While this collective is mainly aimed at providing our project with seeds, it also brings further benefits, such as improving local employment. Within this pilot project, six seed collectors were indirectly employed, demonstrating the potential that this Seed Collection Collective has in boosting local employment in the area.

Watch the first shipment of seeds arrive to our nursery from our very own Seed Collective:

To increase the visibility of its Carbon Free Programme, Movida is redesigning its stores around Brazil to include the programme at the very forefront of its brand! The new store design also includes the Black Jaguar Foundation logo, which we are extremely proud of. Movida is the first car rental company to create a Carbon-Free programme, with the goal to compensate 100% of their carbon emissions by the end of 2030.

In 2019, Movida started the carbon compensate partnership with the Black Jaguar Foundation as a way to support one of the largest nature corridors in the world, the Araguaia River Biodiversity Corridor. The Black Jaguar Foundation-Movida partnership will result in one million native trees being planted, during 2020-2022, in the heart of Brazil. And much more to come!

Learn more about Movida’s Carbon Free Programme by visiting their profile page on our website!

Watch Movida’s CEO Renato Franklin talk about the partnership with the Black Jaguar Foundation:

Or watch this short clip, produced together with Movida, to learn even more about the Carbon Free Programme:

On the 9th of September, Black Jaguar Foundation had the opportunity to present its project and ambitions at the IUCN World Congress Marseille, the largest nature congress in the world. It was an honor to present our work in front of such an inspiring and renowned audience. A big thank you to IUCN Netherlands and World Congress for making this possible!

The team received lots of helpful and positive feedback on the progress of the project, and the quality of the work we do, for which we are very grateful. The session, named ‘Large Scale Ecological Restoration: The Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor’ was recorded and is now available for you to watch!

Watch the full presentation below!

In September, Black Jaguar Foundation’s newly created Technical Committee had its first meeting. The committee is composed of four qualified specialists from different areas, and two of BJF’s forest engineers. They are currently giving their input and advice on our the plans to drastically scale up our operations in the field during the rainy / planting seasons for the next 5 years.

The members include: Ingo Isernhagen, Sâmia Nunes, Júlia Mangueira, and Maxmiller Ferreira. With the help of their expertise and the time they are willing to dedicate to the Black Jaguar Foundation’s mission, we believe their input will be of greate value. Have a look at their specializations below!

Landgoed de Olmenhorst, on behalf of their adopt a tree program, has partnered with the Black Jaguar Foundation! The Estate in Haarlemmermeer, grows apple and pear trees, and other crops according to organic principles.

For each adoption of a tree on its Estate, you can now also donate a tree to the Black Jaguar Foundation. For every 2 trees donated by its customers, Olmenhorst donates another tree to the Black Jaguar Foundation. Once you have adopted a tree at the estate, you can pick apples during any harvest season! If you want to learn more about our partner De Olmenhorst, check out their profile page on the website!

If you want to learn more about our partner De Olmenhorst, check out their profile page on the website.

We are excited to welcome Royal De Heus Animal Nutrition to the BJF Community, and look forward to growing many trees together!

“Providing access to safe, healthy and especially affordable food is one of the biggest challenges the world faces today. At the same time, we need to reduce the impact our food production systems have on vulnerable ecosystems. To achieve both goals, we need to produce food more efficiently to prevent excessive land use change in the near future. We can only achieve that when we treat farmers as our allies when tackling these challenges. That’s what we like about the Black Jaguar Foundation. They work together with farmers on the realisation of the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor”

                                                                                            Koen de Heus, CEO of De Heus Animal Nutrition

De Heus Animal Nutrition is 110 year old family business and has grown to become an international producer of a complete range of compound feed, premixes, concentrates and feed specialties. The 2020 BJF partnership with the Brazilian division of De Heus has now officially been extended at its global headquarters.

To help realize the mission of the Black Jaguar Foundation, to protect and increase biodiversity in the corridor between the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado savanna, De Heus will lend its long-term support and dedication to the project.

De Heus already has a strong sustainability program in place, summarised in their ‘Global Green Goals’- four global ambitions towards tackling sustainability issues in the feed industry. For example, the company will only procure certified soy with a verifiable zero deforestation policy in all its business units by 2025.

The partnership between the Black Jaguar Foundation and De Heus will focus on restoring biodiversity in two of the most vital ecosystems on the planet, the Cerrado savannah and the Amazon rainforest. The largest part of this year’s contribution by De Heus will be utilized for the construction of the large-scale tree nursery in Santana do Araguaia. Furthermore, part of the contribution will also be used to set up the foundations seed collection initiative and the training of the fire brigade in Santana do Araguaia to help fight and prevent forest fires. Starting next year, the contribution of De Heus will be used for the planting of native trees in the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor.

We are excited to welcome Royal De Heus to the BJF Community, and look forward to growing many trees together!

One of our Restoration Analysts, Kaléo Pereira, created a short informational video to explain the complicated process of land validation with all of you! The validation process is meant to determine which areas are restorable through a series of evaluations. Kaléo explains each of these evaluations briefly, to give you an introduction to the process.

The validation process is a very detailed one, and therefore requires a lot of time and attention. If you’re curious about how the validation process works, check out the video on our blog post for an understandable insight to the complicated process of land validation.

The BJF supported a Fire Brigade course for the local firefighters of Santana do Araguaia. This course took place at the end of July, and focused on fire prevention and combat.

During the dry season, fire prevention is crucial, as the environment is at an increased risk of catching fire. We documented some of the training, to share with all of you what the fire fighters learned throughout the week of training!

The Secretary of Environment of Santana do Araguaia created a video of this training, so have a look below to see what was learned in this training:

On the 15th of July, a beautiful ceremony was hosted by SEMMA (Secretary of the Environment of Santana do Araguaia). This ceremony was organized to officially celebrate the partnership with the Black Jaguar Foundation, and the handover of the 3,6 hectares of land from SEMMA to the BJF for the latest and grand nursery.

The ceremony also celebrated the start of the partnership between the Black Jaguar Foundation and the Municipality of, and the Secretary of the Environment of Santana do Araguaia.

The burning season threatens not only the fauna and flora of the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor, but also our future. We, from Black Jaguar Foundation, have been working since 2017 in Brazil to realise one of the largest ecological restoration projects in the world, connecting the Cerrado and the Amazon in the center of Brazil via a green corridor.

By 2022, we will have planted 1 million native trees on the banks of the Araguaia River. There will be 10 million trees planted by 2025. As the fires rapidly advance, it is not only these ecological restoration areas that are at risk, but the whole surrounding region and remaining nature.

PROTECTING LIFE AND BIODIVERSITY

We need to take immediate action, on two fronts, in the region where the Black Jaguar Foundation operates: one preventive and the other to fight the fires.

PREVENTION – STRENGTHENING FIRE RESILIENCE ON RURAL PROPERTIES IN THE REGION

This is done in two ways: conducting the training of voluntary fire brigade to support the local prevention plan, and reinforcing firebreaks on restoration sites.

TRAINING VOLUNTEER FIRE BRIGADES

For both Prevention and Combat, local fire brigades need to be trained in the areas close to our restoration sites for the coming millions of native trees. Black Jaguar will provide for the professional training of fire brigade in Santana do Araguaia (PA), who will certify the volunteers in managing fire-fighting equipments. The fire brigades will be managed with the support of the Enviromental Secretary and local landowners and communities.

REINFORCING FIREBREAKS

Firebreaks are strips of bare land which physically separate two areas susceptible to fire. Black Jaguar field team and local workers build these firebreaks on restoration sites, with the help of tractors, and they then restrict the passage of fire to new areas of vegetation, making the fire more easily controlled.

FIRE FIGHTING – EQUIPMENT AND WATER SUPPLY

Besides training, fire brigades need appropriate equipment and water supply to put out the fire.

FIRE-FIGHTING EQUIPMENT

Black Jaguar will purchase appropriate fire-fighting equipment, such as blowers, back pumps and dampers, allowing brigades to act at the beginning of occurrences and prevent them from worsening.

WATER SUPPLY

Once the fire is already raging in an area, however, only water is capable of extinguishing the flames. Additionally, in the case of an extinct fire, there is an action called aftermath, which is when a previously burnt area is wetted to prevent a new outbreak of fire. BJF will support the rental of for water-tank on wheels to the municipality of Santana do Araguaia.

“We all have the power to change. What are you waiting for?”

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

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A PLACE OF POSITIVE IMPACT

We have areas in the process of restoration in the states of Pará and Tocantins. In Pará, in the municipality of Santana do Araguaia, we will protect an area of 2,000 km², and in Tocantins, in the municipality of Caseara, an area of 700 km².

The total area that will receive this emergency assistance will be 2,700 km² (equivalent to 270,000 football pitches).

HOW IT WORKS

We will enable the training and equip the fire brigades in the cities of Santana do Araguaia (PA) and Caseara (TO), as well as create fire breaks and reinforce those that already exist. In addition, we will enlist the support of water trucks for the immediate combat of fire outbreaks and the aftermath of the area.

We will reserve a sum of money for contingencies that arise and to support the fire brigade of the Cantão State Park (TO), as this is a vital conservation unit present in the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor, and it is close to the areas under restoration by the Black Jaguar Foundation.

COLLECTION TARGET:R$100.000,00

Distribution model:

1st Fire Brigade Training

2nd Reinforcement of fire-fighting equipment

3rd Reinforcement and renewal of firebreaks: Blade tractor + labor

4th Water Truck Rental: if necessary to contain the fire and make the aftermath after fire

You can donate as much as you can, and any amount you choose to contribute will help – even small actions can have a large positive impact.And remember: no one is too small to make a difference.

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OBJECTIVES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

By planting native trees on a large scale to realise the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor, the Black Jaguar Foundation is contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDOs), in particular the following 6 SDOs:

TRANSPARENCY AND USE OF RESOURCES

We will document all the fieldwork and report back on our website at the end of the campaign to all people who decide to support this initiative. Welight platform records the financial flow – from donations to the final result – and ensures transparency and fraud prevention through blockchain technology. Access the accountability report of the SOS-Araguaia campaign in 2020 here: Accountability Report 2020

By planting native trees on a large scale to realise the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor, the Black Jaguar Foundation is contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDOs), in particular the following 6 SDOs:

Support all those on the front line fighting fires in the Cerrado and Amazon. Be part of this movement to care for and protect Brazilian biodiversity. We all depend on this.