Julia Silveira

Last month, Our field team participated in the second set of meetings organised by  the Federal university of South and Southwest Pará, regarding education and research projects. 

During the event, Carlos Eduardo Oliveira (Field Coordinator), Norivânia Diniz (Seedling production analyst) and Laís D’Isep (Seed production analyst) presented the Black Jaguar Foundation’s mission of ecological restoration to over 50 university students.  

The main theme of the event was: “Education and social responsibility: building values of citizenship and sustainability”.  

The UN’s sustainable development goals are global treaty signed by 193 member states in 2015. It is made up of 17 ambitious and interconnected objectives, spread out into 169 goals, focussed on overcoming the main challenges of international development.  

 In her lecture, Laís D’isep, our seed production analyst, talked about how collecting seeds can help Santana do Araguaia reach some of the sustainable development goals proposed by the UN.   

Finally, our seedling production analyst, Norivânia Diniz, dove into her routine working in the BJF nursery: from seedling production, to pros and cons of using different types of containers, to the main challenges faces in the process of seedling production! 

 Norivânia also explained the current infrastructure of our latest nursery, including new machines, what we are using them for, and how that will help with seed production. Overall, this provided a great opportunity to show university what the day-to-day of the nursery is like!  

 Here at the BJF, we believe that environmental education plays an important role in increasing community engagement in issues related to social responsibility. We are incredibly grateful for this opportunity to shape the minds of tomorrow.  

To complete our first million trees in the coming planting season, we are expanding our team! 

The health and safety of our team is of utmost importance to us. Our new work safety engineer, Matheus Monteiro dos Santos, will guarantee that all safety procedures are followed while carrying out our ecological restoration activities. 

To help manage the purchases still needed to ensure the growth of our trees, we have hired Fabiane Monpean. Fabiane will also be providing support to the BJF finance team.

Further, though our validation team has already mapped the hectares to be restored in the coming planting season, reaching new landowners to join our mission of hope and action remains  a priority. For this reason, we have added Tainan Basso Balestrini to our landraising team. Tainan is a forest engineer who will work closely with our Rural Partnerships Coordinator, Marcelle Grumberg, and analyst Andreza Vidal.  

With more land, and more trees, we will also need more seeds! Our new Seed Production Analyst, Laís D’Isep dos Santos, is currently leading the development of the Araguaia Seed Collection Collective.

Finally, we have also hired Fernando Victal, a forest engineer, to coordinate our forest operations.   

With an ever-growing team, and together with our sponsor partners and partner farmers, we will plant the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor’s first million trees!  

Click through the descriptions of some of our newest team members to get to know them better!

This summer, the BJF participated in two leading Agriculture fairs in Brazil, showing that agriculture and ecological restoration can go together! We successfully participated with our own booth at Agrotins ’22 (Palmas, Tocantins) and Expoasa’22 (Santana do Araguaia, Pará).

We received an overwhelmingly positive response to our presence from our existing and potential farmer-partners and political representatives on federal, state and municipal level.

Watch the video-compilation above and experience what some of our existing and potential partner farmers and political representatives on federal, state and municipal level  have to say about our mission of hope & action in realising the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor in Central Brazil.

During these events, our team made many new connections and potential new partnerships with rural landowners and governmental bodies.

Find out more about our participation in some of Santana do Araguaia’s main Agricultural fairs here. 

Last month, the Black Jaguar Foundation took another step towards realising the Araguaia Seed Collection Collective!

Laís D’Isep, our seeds production analyst, visited settlements in several cities in the Araguaia region. While in Marianopolis, she reached out ot the settlements Manchete and Piracema for the first time.

In Caseara, Laís spoke with people living in the settlements União e Onalício Barros, that had already heard of the project beforehand, and with secondary school students in the Colégio Estadual Trajano de Almeida.

With these visits, Laís aimed to present the Araguaia Seed Collection Collective, answer any questions about the project, and invite local community members to participate in the training sessions.

So far, we have managed to engage 130 members in this initiative.

Training participants is a fundamental to our seed collection collective because it increases the likelihood that seeds will be collected in an appropriate way.

To this effect, the BJF technical team divided the course into five modules, including practices of seed collection and its benefits.

At the end of June, Laís went back to all the settlements she had visited previously to complete the first module of training in seed collection.

We expect this cycle of training sessions, including all five modules, to be concluded by the start of our next planting season!

To organize the Araguaia Seed Collection Collective, we are learning from other already existing initiatives. In June, Laís D’Isep participated in a course offered by the Rede de Sementes do Cerrado, in partnership with Floresta Nacional de Brasília, Aprospera, Tikré and Caminhos da Semente.

The course provided an introduction to seed collection, outlined benefits of different fruits and seeds, went over seed storage, and explained how to organize and sell seeds.

At the Black Jaguar Foundation, we believe that we can inspire, learn, and ultimately, grow together. Strengthening communities and maintaining as well as restoring ecosystems in the region!

The Araguaia Seed Collection Collective aims to provide our project with native seeds while simultaneously complementing the income of local communities living near the Araguaia River. Nevertheless, for seed collection to be realized in an appropriate way, the BJF team has been organizing numerous training sessions.

The following video shows trees that were planted one and a half years ago and are already producing seeds! The Urucum seed will be one of our priority seeds to be collected for the coming planting season.

Last month, our team had the opportunity to present the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor to the Brazilian Ministry of Environment’s technical team, building new partnerships to support our work of ecological restoration. This visit also consisted of meetings with other departments of the Ministry of Environment, including the Department of Protected Areas, and the president of Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade.

During our visit, we were also invited to meet with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture. We discussed how the BJF can best support the Ministry of Agriculture’s projects moving forward, with a focus on our contributions to “Paisagens Rurais no Cerrado” (Rural Landscapes in the Cerrado Savana), in the municipalities in Para, Tocantins and Mato Grosso that fall within the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor.

These new partnerships will be instrumental in raising more land for us to plant on in the 23/24 planting season!

The Black Jaguar Foundation started collaborating on the Project “Paisagens rurais do Cerrado” with our partner Serviço Florestal Brasileiro in 2021.  

The project, coordinated by the Brazilian department of Agriculture (MAPA), is supported by many different organisations including the Black Jaguar Foundation and focusses on incentivising the integrated management of rural properties. To make this a reality, it provides technical assistance to rural landowners in the project regions.  

 The Black Jaguar Foundation has been working together with Serviço Florestal Brasileiro (SFE) on the restoration of Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) and Legal Reserves (RLs) in the Cerrado Biome, in collaboration with rural landowners in the region

Providing technical assistance in ecological restoration ensures healthy ecosystems, increases agricultural productivity, and creates new employment opportunities! 

This will enable rural producers to develop the economic, social, and environmental aspects of their properties.  

For a 4^th year in a row, Seacon logistics has renewed its partnership with us!

We feel honoured that the founder of the company, Mr Hai Berden and his wife Corry have been fully backing our mission of Hope and Action from the very start.

Since 2018 Seacon Logistics has been a proud partner to our mission, helping us realise the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor.

Seacon Logistics is the Logistics Chain Director for coordinating and optimising your logistics supply chain. From their strategic inland locations in Europe they efficiently manage your flow of goods in cooperation with a worldwide network of dedicated partners.

The company provides world-wide transport solutions on the road, rail, and water!  Seacon is always on the move, and consistently incorporates environmental, social and economic development into its operations.

In 2023, Seacon Logistics will move into a modern new head office in The Netherlands, Venlo with all of its logistics and staff departments. Seacon Logistics will also open a new logistics service center (warehouse) of approximately 50,000 mˆ2 to give shape to its step-by-step sustainable growth.

Plenty of developments are also being made in Seacon’s German branch, in Duisburg, the largest European Inland logistics hotspot. This includes the rail and water connections that Seacon has established, linking Asia to Europe.

These connections, combined with Seacon’s Container Freight Station located at rail and water terminals, allow the company to store and transship goods of all shapes and sizes worldwide.

Seacon Logistics is increasingly data-driven, always focussed on optimizing solutions for people and the planet.

Their Seanovation programme serves as a good example of this. Derived from a major study, which looked into how processes could be integrated, optimised and digitised, it aims to enhance Seacon’s efficiency and improve customer experiences. This programme, which started being operationalised in August 2021, will encompass transport over landfreight, seafreight, Airfreight, and Warehousing.

Read about Seacon’s exciting developments here.

Seacon is focussed on the three pillars of corporate social responsibility: people, planet and prosperity.

Through their initiative, Seacon Blue, the company supports many social, environmental, and cultural  projects alongside the Black Jaguar Foundation. Seacon is also involved in several (inter)national social initiatives and charities.

Find out more about Seacon’s partnerships here!

To improve our outreach locally, we have opened an office in Santana do Araguaia! Here we are hoping to receive local landowners, as well as others in the local community, who want to learn about the project.

We started renting this space at the end of 2021 and are very happy with how it is all coming together. Currently, we are in the final stages of renovating and furnishing the office. With the BJF logo painted on the entrance wall, and the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor map hung up inside the office, we are excited to open our doors to landowners soon.

Having a local office will allow for an increase in our approachability and our credibility among the local landowner community.

Feel free to stop by whenever you’re in the area!

Donating blood is an important action that saves lives. The “red June” movement aims to shed light on this and incentivize blood donations all over Brazil. To celebrate this movement, the Black Jaguar Foundation supported a blood donation campaign in Santana do Araguaia (PA).

The event happened on the 25^th of June, and was organized by Santana do Araguaia’s Municipal Secretary of Health.

Throughout the day, professionals working for HEMOPA (Fundação Centro de Hemoterapia e Hematologia do Pará), were available at the Escola de Tempo Integral Dr. Wagner Pereira da Silva, to collect blood from donors.

The Black Jaguar Foundation supported this action, and incentivized sponsor and landowner partners to participate.

Some of our team members that work in different cities also strengthened the campaign by donating from different regions. Carol Sacramento, our Development Coordinator, donated in São Paulo, while Ben Valks, our initiator, donated in Brasilia.

At the end of the day, HEMOPA managed to collect 96 packs of blood, which will certainly have a great positive impact in the region.

For every donation made, the BJF provided a native tree seedling to be planted in the donor’s garden or farm!