Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

Today we want to spotlight an amazing family that has been supporting us throughout the years and that serves as an example to many of us!

Fred Stammeshaus is a social entrepreneur who initiated numerous local initiatives both in the Netherlands and around the world, with social and environmental impact. He got to know the Black Jaguar Foundation some years ago and is now proudly supporting BJF by donating trees, compensating his carbon footprint and those of others, as well as supporting our mission by spreading the word.

Fred is therefore serving as an true example that by supporting us every now and then with some trees, you can make a huge difference for us!

A BIG APPLAUSE for the whole Stammeshaus-Wietsma family and the support giving to our mission. We hope you are as inspired by this family as we are!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

It’s International Biodiversity Day! And, in addition to explaining the importance of biodiversity, we want to show how the work we do, and that you support, contributes to the maintenance and preservation of biodiversity in the Amazon Forest and Cerrado Savanna.

From the plankton in our seas to the jaguars skulking through our forests, biodiversity is the varied and distinct totality of all life forms on earth.

For any ecosystem to remain healthy and alive, it must maintain its biodiversity. This is because different species perform different tasks within an ecosystem, and it is the culmination of all these tasks that keep the ecosystem functioning and alive.

Just like how a multinational business wouldn’t be able to run without a combination of CEO’s, managers and interns – an ecosystem can’t survive without a synergetic mix of predators and prey, herbivores and omnivores, flora and fauna.

Healthy ecosystems provide us with critical services and natural products necessary for international human survival.  For instance, our rainforests provide us with clean water, oxygen, food and medicine.

Our goal is not just to reforest, but to ecologically restore Araguaia. Each hectare of land to be restored is mapped so that we can plant a wide variety of species.

Currently, in our projects, we use more than 70 native trees. Most of them are purchased directly from our seed network, Ressemear. And we often join the collectors and go on expeditions with the aim of mapping new seed species for the production of seedlings in our nursery. Of these, some groups adapted to waterlogged soil conditions and others to drier places.

Recently, we found 7 species that grow in the flooded areas of the Araguaia River and that can be used in our restoration projects – increasing the biodiversity of our plantations.

And the results can already be seen when we visit the restoration areas. Trees that were not planted by us are already growing, animals are seen and little by little we are transforming the landscape on the banks of the Araguaia River.

If you want to be part of this change, support the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor! Your contribution will allow biodiversity to be preserved and the Amazon Forest and Cerrado to be recovered!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

The importance of preserving the Araguaia River was highlighted in the most watched brazilian newscast – and Dona Eunice, collector of Ressemear, too!

Watch the full report (in portuguese) here.

An active collector of Ressemear (Araguaia Seed Network), Dona Eunice was one of those interviewed by the team of journalists and highlighted the importance of ecological restoration to preserve and recover the Araguaia River:

“Man deforested, took away the rain, because you know that if the trees are gone, the rain also decreases. Our interest is that they come and reforest, because then the rain comes and there is no shortage of water in this river”, he explains.

As she told the report, Dona Eunice lives on the banks of the Araguaia River and goes out on a boat every week looking for fish to eat and to sell. And over the years, he realized that the area around the river is undergoing changes.

And it is to change this story that the Black Jaguar Foundation has been working for more than 5 years to restore the banks of the Araguaia River and, in this way, create one of the largest ecological corridors in the world: the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor. And Dona Eunice is part of this initiative – she is one of the collectors of Ressemear, a seed network mobilized by the organization.

The project began with the objective of acquiring native seeds that could be used for planting seedlings and direct sowing. After mobilizing communities and offering training, she and her family learned how to collect and store the most different species of seeds from the Amazon Forest and Cerrado to then sell to the organization.

See what she says about the importance of the work carried out in partnership with the Black Jaguar Foundation:

According to recent studies, with each passing year, one of the most important river basins in Brazil is having difficulty recovering water flow during rainy periods.

And as Dona Eunice said, the solution to recovering the Araguaia River and its tributaries is to restore the Amazon Forest and the Cerrado – and that is what the Black Jaguar Foundation works for every day!

And you can support our project: donating trees, sharing our content or becoming part of the First 600 helps us expand the Black Jaguar Foundation Community. Together, we can recover the Araguaia River, the Amazon Forest and the Cerrado!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

The Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor Impact Study, conducted by a renowned group of scientists from USP (University São Paulo) and the University of Illinois, was featured in Elsevier, one of the most important magazines in the world, specialized in scientific and technical content.

The research seeks to quantify and understand the economic, social and environmental impacts of the corridor, as well as the cost of carrying out this ambitious project. And believe me: the benefits of ecological restoration of these 1 million hectares of the Amazon Forest and Cerrado reach 21 billion dollars!

Read the full impact study here!

Check out some results from this study:

• The benefits brought by the restoration of the Araguaia Corridor are estimated at 21 billion dollars. To calculate these benefits, we take into account the social cost of avoided carbon (17.1 billion dollars); the reduction of soil erosion (1.2 billion saved) and the additional revenue generated through agroforestry and sustainable wood management systems (2.7 billion dollars).
• The total cost of creating the Araguaia Corridor is estimated at 2.2 billion. For every dollar invested, the Corridor will bring a return of 9.5 dollars in avoided environmental damage and income generation for the locality.
• More than 262 million tons of carbon will be captured, which is equivalent to 8% of Brazil’s goal in the Paris Agreement.
• $15 million in municipal revenue will be generated and at the project’s peak, more than 37,000 local jobs will be created.

Furthermore, the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor:

Our project is ambitious, but, more than that, it is necessary to mitigate the effects of climate change and the time to act is now! In order for us to restore nearly a million hectares in the coming decades, we need your support.

Join the BJF Community. Donate trees, be part of the First 600, or help promote the Black Jaguar Foundation to your friends and family!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

We are happy to announce that we have successfully completed another planting season in the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor! At the moment, our field team is consolidating the final numbers to present to you, but we can say that we have made progress in creating one of the largest ecological corridors in the world!

This season, we started by planting seedlings, continued with direct sowing and left natural regeneration to be carried out in the last months of the rainy season.

We are very proud of our field team, who spared no effort to achieve the goals we had set at the beginning of 2023. And even with all the unforeseen events, such as the storm that hit the nursery last October, they managed to deliver incredible results!

But that doesn’t mean the work is over! On the contrary, while we count the results achieved in this rainy season, we are already focusing on preparations for the 2024/2025 Planting Season.

In the coming months, we will focus on defining the areas that will be planted in a few months, organizing all logistics, hiring reinforcements for our team, purchasing native seeds collected by Ressemear and producing seedlings in our recently rebuilt nursery.

There will be months of intense work leading up to the official start of the next planting season. And we can guarantee that we are looking forward to putting new seedlings and seeds in the soil of the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

The Black Jaguar Foundation was invited to present at the Forum of Environmental Secretaries of the Legal Amazon, organized in Rio Branco (AC).

During the event, Marcelle Grumberg, our articulation coordinator, participated in the panel “Economic and environmental impact of forest restoration: innovative strategies from the private sector”, moderated by the general head of EMBRAPA from Acre.

Throughout the panel, Marcelle had the opportunity to explain our ecological restoration project, exchange experiences with other sectors and promote the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor for the states that are part of the Legal Amazon.

Watch the presentation in Portuguese (it starts on 08:00):

We would like to thank SEMA do Acre, especially Secretary Julie Messias, for this incredible opportunity to promote the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor to the states of the Legal Amazon!

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

Ecological restoration is a legacy that passes from generation to generation. And for our project to be successful, it is necessary to create collective awareness about the importance of preserving and restoring our forests – not only among partner rural landowners, but among the children who will be responsible for that area in the future.

To celebrate this commitment and raise awareness among future generations, this year we carried out the symbolic planting of native trees with our rural landowner partner and his nephew! Check out the video below:

These trees will grow together with the children who, in the future, will be responsible for protecting our forests.

We are extremely proud to have partners who, like us, are aware that preserving and restoring our forests is the path to a better future for everyone.

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

As many of you already know, in October last year, our nursery was hit by a strong storm with strong winds in Santana do Araguaia (PA). At the time, we lost several seedlings that would be taken to the restoration areas and our inside nursery suffered severe damage to its structure.

After a fundraising campaign and thanks to contributions from our supporters, during March, we were able to rebuild our large-scale nursery with a reinforced structure to make our nursery stronger and more resilient than ever!

Check out the video that our field team prepared to show you what our new shade house is like:

With the nursery rebuilt and operating at full capacity, the BJF Nursery Team has already started producing seedlings that will be planted in the next rainy season. Check out some images of the Black Jaguar Foundation Nursery, all green and full of future trees from the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor:

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.

The rainy season is coming to an end in the Araguaia region and, with it, another planting season!

Our field team has already completed the planting of seedlings, direct seeding and is now conducting the natural regeneration on the last hectares of this season. At the same time the team is carrying out maintenance on the areas restored in previous years, caring for what already has been planted and helping the ecosystem flourish and come back.

Check out some images of the team planting the seedlings produced in our nursery:

During the month of March, we focused on direct seeding, using the seeds collected by Ressemear (Araguaia Seed Network). We are currently concentrating our efforts on conducting the natural regeneration of the last hectares planned for this planting season and maintaining the areas restored in previous years.

The plan is that another successful planting season will be completed in the coming weeks! And as the field team doesn’t stop, we are already planning the next rainy season and producing seedlings in our nursery – which has been rebuilt and is operating at full capacity.

Would you like to join us in realizing one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth? Become one of the First 600 to join our mission of hope and action HERE.