News Home

Back in August, the Black Jaguar Foundation gave a lecture for students partaking in the Environmental Law and Policy course taught by Professor Heidi M. Hurd (Illinois University) at FGV Law School in São Paulo . After the lecture, Francisco Macedo (Partnerships Coordinator) was invited by Prof. Hurd to do a roadshow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The roadshow took place in November 2018. Its main objectives were to raise awareness around deforestation in the Brazilian Cerrado savannah and Amazon rainforest and promote the initiatives led by the Black Jaguar Foundation on its mission to realise the Araguaia Corridor, the largest biodiversity corridor on earth.

In Illinois, Francisco had the honor of (i) delivering an address at a Luncheon Seminar, attended by Environmental Policy students and some college of Law Faculty members, (ii) speaking individually to over fifteen local professors from different faculties in order to discuss potential partnerships between the University of Illinois and the Black Jaguar Foundation and (iii) deliver a keynote at the Land Conservation Foundation annual dinner

Apart from enlarging the BJF Community, Francisco’s trip was very productive and the outcomes range from financial donations to the establishment of scientific partnerships to be announced soon… We will keep you posted!

After the time spent at the University of Illinois, Francisco also flew to New York City to host a series of fundraising meetings. These meetings also turned out to have a great positive financial outcome for the BJF.

BJF’s core team keeps on expanding! We now have a dedicated communications coordinator, Eloise Moench, who takes charge of our internal and external communications. This involves ensuring our sponsor partners are up to date with the latest news, building our social media presence and making sure our whole team is aligned and informed about how our grand project is developing.

Eloise is from the UK but moved to the Netherlands almost two years ago to study a Philosophy Masters. She specialized in climate negotiations- exploring how philosophical ideas of distributive justice can instruct the ways in which we internationally share the costs of climate change. After completing her degree she decided to stay in the Netherlands and begin working for the BJF, promoting and communicating the importance of our mission. We are happy to have her on board!

The BJF is full of festive cheer! We have achieved so many milestones this year that would not be possible without the voluntary and financial help of all our sponsor partners and extended team. However, our mission does not stop here. In order to become one of the worlds largest reforestation projects, billions of trees still need to be planted and billions of funds still need to be raised. This holiday season give a gift to the planet, give a gift to the next generation and give a gift to yourself by donating towards our great cause.

You can get involved here.

Iguazu is the up and coming watch company dedicated towards conserving natural beauty. We have recently signed an exciting partnership with them. For each watch you buy from Iguazu, you indirectly donate to the BJF so we can plant three native trees along the corridor. Buying an Iguazu time piece is a great and stylish way of supporting our project!

Iguazu are named after the glorious Iguazu waterfalls bordering Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. These astonishing beauties are one of the Seven Wonders of Nature. The straps on Iguazu watches are also made with upcycled leather (material that would otherwise be discarded by the fashion industry). The company’s sustainable zero waste concept is fully in line with BJF values- making them a great sponsor partner!

Not only is our very own Field Coordinator taking care of nurseries, assisting farms and generating reports, he is also interacting with other organizations dedicated to replanting and restoring nature. In late September, after an invitation made by ISA (Instituto Socioambiental) to the BJF, Carlos Eduardo attended the 2018 Xingu Seed Network field visit. This was a 4-day expedition in Canarana (Mato Grosso) with a focus in ecological restoration led by the Xingu Seed Network.

He learnt a lot about the forest restoration technique known as muvuca, where thousands of native seeds, collected from preserved areas, are combined and sown over degraded land instead of being individually planted. This technique can be used with 214 species of seeds and has the potential to plant up around 6.000 trees per hectare after three years- drastically improving reforestation density. It was also promising to find out that this technique can potentially be used both the Cerrado Savannah as well as the Amazon.

During the conference he was also educated about the importance of establishing a seed network to involve local communities in the process of restoration. A seed network can promote the cooperation between local communities, public powers and farmers so that all work together for the restoration of their land. This generates income for local people and can have a positive social impact for those living around the restoration initiatives.

Eduardo was very happy to promote our mission at the conference and learn more about how to make the corridor a reality!

We are very proud to announce that the BJF has won 1st place in FCB Amsterdam’s ‘For Good’ initiative! FCB is a global player: an internationally acclaimed advertising company with 120 offices in over 80 countries worldwide. The Amsterdam branch has chosen to support the BJF as their organization of choice, donating over 150 hours of professional time to us. These donated hours can be used for strategy, studio time and creation, as well as project management and accounting.

Out of the three ‘short-listed’ charities, BJF won 49% of the overall vote, making us a clear frontrunner. It is incredible for us to see how multinational corporations are starting to independently believe in the importance of our mission and donate hours of professional energy and time to our cause.

Have you got any similar initiatives at work that you would like to put the BJF forward for? We would love to hear from you! Don’t hesitate to contact us at info@black-jaguar.org

Thanks to the work of our team in Brazil and due to a number of visits from our technical partners at Bioflora, the final preparations are being made for us to begin planting this season!  From the 10th of December onwards we intend to plant 10,000 seedlings along the corridor. This will be the start of our work towards achieving our annual goal: having the first million trees planted before the end of 2019!

Many of these seedlings are currently sprouted and measure between 20 – 60cm. More are being prepared this week and shall be planted at Santa Fé farm, a major partner. These seedlings will grow into tall, pioneering trees that will provide a canopy for us to later plant more diverse species of native trees underneath. This is very exciting for the BJF as we enter into the next phase of our mission and begin to see the fruits of our labor emerge. Years of hard work have finally begun to culminate in the restoration of the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor!