Rioterra launches a project that will reforest 12,000 hectares of degraded areas in the Amazon

Rioterra and the State Secretariat of Environmental Development (Sedam) of Rondônia launched a project that will recover more than 12 thousand hectares of deforested areas in Rondônia. As the first part of this action, 270 hectares will be recovered in the Rio Preto Jacundá Extractive Reserve, located in the municipalities of Machadinho D’Oeste and Cujubim.

According to the schedule presented, collections for soil analysis and the seedling production process for the area have already started in July. The cleaning of the access roads and preparation of the soil for planting the seedlings are scheduled for August and September. According to Alexis Bastos, Project Coordinator at the Rioterra Study Center, by January, the planting of more than 360,000 seedlings at the site will be completed.

Sedam’s secretary, Marcílio Leite Lopes, stressed the importance of the partnership and said that the action goes against a priority of the portfolio, which is to maintain the sustainability of the conservation units. “It is a project that adds to our actions to control deforestation and protection at the units. Our goal is to extend to other areas of Resex Rio Preto Jacundá and also to other conservation units ”, he plans.

Also present at the ceremony, the head of the Conservation Units Coordination (CUC), Denison Trindade da Silva, said he was happy for the partnership and reinforced the importance of the project: “this is unprecedented and will bring environmental and social gains, generating more than 80 direct jobs, promoting the economy of the extractive community ”.

The president of the Rio Preto Jacundá Extractive Reserve Residents Association (Asmorex), José Pinheiro, was also present at the launch, representing the entire community. He spoke of the innovative aspect of the project, which, according to him, will benefit not only the residents of the unit but other UCs as well. “We are happy and grateful for the partnership already consolidated with the Centro de Estudos Rioterra, which has been around since 2011, and which now arrives with this action at such a promising moment for us”, he reinforced.

In the end, Telva Barbosa, president of CES Rioterra, reinforced the institution’s commitment to the social and environmental development of the state, by guaranteeing the rights and access to traditional populations in the face of climate change. According to Telva, “in the coming years, the institution’s mission is to recover more than 12 thousand hectares of degraded areas. More than 15 million trees will be planted on family farming properties, conservation units, and indigenous lands, in partnership with communities and public and private institutions ”.