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 is only possible thanks to the rural partnerships we’ve established. Our project aims to help rural property owners along the Araguaia River in regularizing their lands according to the Brazilian Forest Code. It also allows to restore areas with environmental deficits by connecting fragments of native vegetation and creating an ecological corridor.

In recent years, our community of rural partners has grown significantly. There are now more than 20 producers who agree that agricultural production and sustainability can – and should – go hand in hand. Because of this, we would like to introduce them to you!

The first to participate in this series of interviews is Carlos Félix, the owner of Fazenda Bela Vista in Caseara (TO).

Watch Carlos Félix’s video testimonial!

Check out our conversation and discover how this partnership began and continues to grow stronger:

Interview with Carlos Félix, owner of Fazenda Santa Fé

Could you start by telling us where your rural property is located?

CF: I’m based at Fazenda Bela Vista, in the municipality of Caseara (TO), on the banks of the Araguaia River.

Tell us a bit about Fazenda Bela Vista…

CF: Fazenda Bela Vista covers 1,500 hectares. We engage in cattle farming and soybean cultivation. Approximately 51% of the total area is protected, including Legal Reserves and Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs).

What actions and initiatives at Fazenda Bela Vista are related to biodiversity?

CF: Our actions involve complying with the management controls required by Brazilian legislation for the preservation of fauna and flora. In other words, we only work on operations in areas designated for livestock and agricultural production. We do not allow any work in protected areas.

Another action is the partnership with Black Jaguar and their project to revitalize a small Permanent Preservation Area here on the property.

Fazenda Bela Vista has 51% of its total area preserved. 35% is Legal Reserve, as required by the Brazilian Forest Code – and everything is duly documented and registered. There is also a Permanent Preservation Area measuring 1.2 km in length by 500 meters in width along the banks of the Araguaia River. Additionally, we have lakes on the farm with their respective preserved APPs. All this preserved area is condensed into one region, creating a significant ecological corridor.

How did the partnership with Black Jaguar begin?

CF: It began at the end of 2021 when I received a visit from Ben Valks (Initiator) and Marcelle (Articulation Coordinator). They came here to visit and present the project. As soon as the presentation was over, I said, “Ben, you can count on Fazenda Bela Vista; we’re in this project together.”

What are the benefits for you as a rural producer in this partnership with Black Jaguar?

CF: The main benefit is the revitalization of the Permanent Preservation Area we have on the farm. We believe that with this revitalization, we will ensure or even increase the water supply at the farm’s spring.

Another significant benefit is related to legislation. When Black Jaguar, as an organization, comes to rural producers with this project to regularize degraded areas, it’s a huge benefit. Black Jaguar is already taking the lead in solving any issue related to Brazilian Forest Code requirements. When financial institutions start demanding the regularization, we will be ready, and we won’t have difficulty going to the market to seek capital.

So, it’s a great benefit for us, and I can’t see why a rural producer wouldn’t embrace this cause.

What motivates you to work in partnership with Black Jaguar?

CF: I am passionate about the environment. In fact, I have a postgraduate degree in environmental science. I am passionate about preserving both fauna and flora. That’s what gives me pleasure in working with Black Jaguar, knowing that they have a tremendous challenge ahead and are concerned about preserving the banks of the Araguaia River.

What do you think of Black Jaguar’s approach to restoration work?

CF: I believe Black Jaguar is on the right path. They have a well-thought-out plan, a well-structured project, and a down-to-earth approach. In their initial contacts with new rural partners, their professionals are very efficient, respectful, and non-imposing. They come to present the project, and it’s up to us to accept it or not. Additionally, Black Jaguar doesn’t have a goal of expanding at all costs; they grow as they implement their projects.

Do you feel that you are now contributing to ecological restoration?

CF: Yes, and not just me, but other producer partners of Black Jaguar whom I’ve interacted with also feel the same way.

Would you recommend this partnership to other rural producers?

CF: I would not only recommend it but also advocate for this idea. Wherever I go, among the producers I know, I talk a lot about Black Jaguar. When people approach me because Black Jaguar has contacted them, I am an enthusiast. I say, “let’s do this because it’s a project that will succeed”. It’s a very interesting project for rural producers, for Black Jaguar, and even more so for nature. It’s possible to produce and preserve. Production and preservation can very well go hand in hand.

Why is Black Jaguar the best choice for you?

CF: Because they have a group of highly skilled professionals, a serious and well-structured project. Despite the difficulties, they continue to overcome various obstacles. They’ve also formed partnerships here in Brazil. Fazenda Bela Vista received two producers who, after the visit, became partners of Black Jaguar.

Mr. Carlos Félix, thank you very much for the interview! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

CF: I would just like to add that we in agribusiness are often seen as destroyers of the environment. But here in Tocantins, what we’ve noticed is that rural producers are very concerned about the environment and compliance with the law. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be embracing Black Jaguar.

Our deficits happened in the past, and we carry that legacy. In the past, we weren’t held accountable for Legal Reserves and APPs, but today we have this concern about protecting the environment and, at the very least, complying with Brazilian law. About a year ago, we established the Tocantins Sustainable Development Association, in the Araguaia Valley.

This association is committed to sustainable production. More and more producers are joining because they are concerned about environmental issues. We need to produce food; the world needs food. But on the other hand, we also need to contribute to the environment.

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 proud to share with you our 2022 Annual Report, inviting you to experience our key milestones and initiatives, by reading and watching the inspiring videos.

Our ’22 accounts and processes have been again audited and approved by BakerTilly. This process took many months, hence the delay in having the final audited report ready for you.

To carry out our largest planting season to date, we expanded our community of local landowners and launched the Araguaia Seed Network, a seed collective that’s already economically benefiting dozens of families in Santana do Araguaia and the surrounding region. 2022 also marked the start of production of seedlings in our new nursery with a capacity of 500,000 seedlings per year.

These amazing achievements wouldn’t have been possible without your unwavering support: Thank you!

Take a glimpse at many of our 2022 accomplishments:

The upcoming planting season will be just as challenging as the previous one. More than ever, we are counting on your support to help fund the growth of our trees and operations.

Kindly share our Annual Report 2022 with your friends, colleagues and family so that, together, we can reach even more organizations and individuals interested in building a greener future for all.

TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING THE DIFFERENCE!

The end of the planting season is also the time to take care of the small (and not so small) trees that are growing in our restoration sites. After planting many seedlings and seeds over the last rainy season, our field team will now focus their efforts on maintenance.

Maintenance consists of: removing invasive plants that eventually compete with our planted trees, carrying out complementary fertilization and guaranteeing that the fences and forest firebreaks (aceiros) surrounding the project areas stay functional. These activities are realized every four months, or until full canopy closure of the forest, and can take up to three years.

Have a look at some of the BJF field team carrying out maintenance

Why is it important to maintain our growing seedlings?

Maintenance is one of the 17 steps in the Black Jaguar Foundation’s Cycle of Ecological Restoration. That’s how we ensure that the seedlings planted can grow into resilient trees along the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor. 

One of the activities carried out during the maintenance process is managing invasive exotic grasses, to prevent competition with native tree seedlings and plants.

According to our Project Coordinator, Dimitrio Schievenin, the maintenance phase is just as important as the planting itself. “One of the biggest reasons for the failure of restoration projects throughout Brazil is precisely the lack of maintenance,” he explains.  

Because of this, we closely monitor the growth of our seedlings, performing maintenance whenever necessary, and allowing biodiversity to gradually return to the areas where we operate. 

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.

Each planting season, our team learns even more about all the different native species we need in each restoration site, allowing us to improve the return of healthy ecosystems. See how we are contributing to enriching the region’s biodiversity.

Variety of native species planted in BJF restoration sites

Currently, we use about 73 different species of trees in our restoration projects! Among these, some are adapted to flooded soils, while others thrive in drier regions. Depending on the technique used in the restoration site, the key species planted differ.  Have a look below to find out more about the variety of species in our restoration sites: 

Direct Seeding

Planting Seedlings

In the planting stage, we divide the different species of seedlings into two groups: canopy and diversity. Both groups are then planted in the restoration site. “Canopy“ trees are fast-growing and serve to provide shade to the area and rebuild the forest structure. On the other hand, “diversity“ trees grow more slowly and should be planted in between the canopy seedlings.  

This variety of species furthers the success and quality of our restoration sites and increases biodiversity in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes!

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 the Black Jaguar Fondation continues to further its mission of hope and action, it has also been getting more media attention. Over the past few months, we have been Featured in Reuters, Forbes Brasil, and appeared in some of the most read Newspapers and Radio Broadcasts in the Netherlands.  

Many of these platforms have shared the difficulties of carrying out ecological restoration in Brazil, and at the same time highlighted the urgency of this work. We are proud to see the Black Jaguar foundation being used as an example of quality ecological restoration in the region.   

A big thank you to the authors of these articles, who have taken a close look at our work and recognized the importance of ecologically restoring our planet. It is beyond late to be a pessimist, the time to act is now.  

We are excited to continue sharing our mission of hope and action with the world. Find a summary of our latest media appearances below:  

Reuters

At the start of June, Reuters published a Special Report on the challenges of restoring the Amazon. We are very honoured that we have been selected for the investigative report, among the two leading organisations in Brazil carrying out ecological restoration. 

Read the feature HERE.  

Forbes Brasil

Earlier this year, the Black Jaguar Foundation was also featured in Forbes Brasil.  

The article described how our loyal BJF Friend, Ms. Andrea Dreesmann, started her company TreeLove to exclusively support the Black Jaguar Foundation.  

Read more below:

These media appearances have also helped us spread our message in the Netherlands, with appearances in:

We hope that these articles will give you a holistic picture of our project. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us in case of questions. You can email us at: contact@black-jaguar.org  

 Together with our community of dedicated sponsor partners, farmers, and team, we are realising one of the longest biodiversity corridors on Earth!  

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.

Have you come across ads from the Black Jaguar Foundation on Google when searching for terms related to ecological restoration? Great news! This is because we have been awarded Google Grants, which provides $10,000 monthly to promote the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor through ads on Google. 

Google did an extensive due diligence on our organisation and we are thrilled to let you know that we have been approved by yet another International partner.

How did we obtain Google Ad Grants?

To be approved for Google Grants, the organization must be nonprofit. The grant aims to increase social impact and connect people to causes that they are interested in. You can find out more about the Google Ad Grants requirements here.  

After ensuring that the Black Jaguar Foundation met all the requirements for Google Ad Grants, we initiated the application process and created an account for Nonprofit Organizations on Google. 

 Once all these steps were completed and approved, we set up a Google Grants account, and from there, our Communications team began researching, studying, and working hard to launch our first campaigns! 

We have already placed some ads to promote our project of ecological restoration and have been sharing a lot of content related to environmental education. 

We believe that Google Ad Grants will allow us to give our mission more visibility and highlight the urgency of ecologically restoring our biomes, starting with the Amazon Rainforest and Cerrado Savanna.  

Become a part of this movement today! Support the Black Jaguar Foundation by sharing our content with your friends and family. 

 Let’s come together to create an even larger community capable of making a real difference and generating a positive impact on the Earth. 

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.

Kienbaum and the Black Jaguar Foundation have been working together to make a positive impact since 2009!

Kienbaum believes in “turning potential into progress” by creating the perfect match between professionals and organisations. Last year in December, the company started a wonderful new initiative to plant various trees per professional successfully placed in an organisation. 

So far, Kienbaum has already planted thousands of trees, alongside their other incredible contributions. We are very grateful for Kienbaum’s continued support in realising the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor – the longest nature corridor in South America!

Each new Kienbaum placement receives the following certificate, with an illustration of where their trees will be planted. The certificates are all carefully framed by the Kienbaum team:

This is only their most recent initiative! Over the years, Kienbaum has planted many trees during conferences, birthdays, special holidays, and so much more. Have a look at the video testimonial below where Kienbaum’s Managing Director, Hans Jonkers explains Kienbaum’s relationship with the Black Jaguar Foundation, and find out more about our journey together.

Kienbaum is a part of our “The First 600” community, which refers to the First 600 sponsors to contribute to the realisation of the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor.

Would you like to join the Black Jaguar Foundation in realising the longest biodiversity Corridor on Earth, like Kienbaum is doing? Click the button below and find out how you can do so!

Find out more about Kienbaum by visiting their First 600 Page HERE or by visiting their website HERE. 

JOIN US!

Our latest planting season was full of achievements, challenges, and learning opportunities. With many positive results, we have selected some of our favourite highlights to share with you today!

Meet the Star of this Planting Season: the Sumaúma tree

Over the 2022-2023 planting season, the Black Jaguar Foundation team had the opportunity to plant the Sumaúma tree for the second time since the start of our ecological restoration efforts.

Its incredibly positive results have made it the star of this season and ensured that it will remain a key member of our operations for years to come! Sumaúma can grow incredibly fast and is one of the largest trees in the Amazon – able to reach up to 50 meters in height and 2 meters in diameter.

See its growth for yourself! The image below shows our field supervisor Taiwan next to 6 months young Sumaúma tree. Can you see that it is already bigger than him? We can’t wait for our trees to get as big as the one on the image to the right…

We are excited to see these beautiful trees grow into healthy forests in the years to come!

The Sumaúma tree is considered a mother tree for “varzea” forests, which are often forests present along rivers that are susceptible to floods. This tree species is typically found in tropical regions and develops well under direct sunlight.

Despite the Sumaúma species’ fast-growing nature, during its first 3 years of growth, it is still not very good at creating shade for ecological restoration. Therefore, we plant it together with species that can provide this shade early on, like the Cafezinho species. Creating shade is important because it causes the temperature of the soil to drop, which prevents invasive grasses from growing. These invasive grasses compete with the native trees that we plant and prevent them from growing. Therefore, by planting trees like Sumaúma together with other fast growing trees like Cafezinho, we are helping its growth and also ensuring greater biodiversity in the region! 

Scaling up on Natural Regeneration as a method of ecological restoration

30 of the many hectares planted this season were restored using natural regeneration. We hope to use this method much more in the future and take advantage of the full potential of the region.

Have a look at the video below, and understand how the BJF carries out natural regeneration:

More trees, more life!

The number of trees planted in this rainy season was higher than for any of our past rainy seasons yet. It is very exciting for us to see these numbers grow together with our operations and team!

Have a look at some of our youngest trees, planted in December last year:

What are we doing now?

We have reached the end of the planting season and our field team will continue to carry out maintenance and monitoring activities for our planted seedlings! This means that you can expect many updates on the growth of our trees in the coming time – keep an eye on our social media channels.

The maintenance process in crucial is ensuring the health of our planted trees and involves the irrigation of areas where we planted trees during the last rainy season, and removing invasive grasses, among other activities.

For the next planting season…

We will continue to plant lots of Sumaúma trees together with many other species that are native to the Araguaia region.

The BJF team has already started defining the three clusters of farms where we will carry out ecological restoration during the 2023-2024 planting season. By working in clusters, we are able to define our plan the most efficient way, optimising our logistics and labour force.

Our achievements were made possible by the vital support of our BJF partners. Join us by becoming one of the First 600 sponsors to realise the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor.

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The Araguaia Seed Network is an initiative started by the Black Jaguar Foundation to provide seeds for our mission of ecological restoration that has already shown great benefits to local communities and the Araguaia Biodiversity corridor. The initiative is relatively young, and we would like to develop it so that it can reach its full potential in generating a positive impact for society and the planet. That’s why we take pride in learning from other seed collectives!  

 This month, the Black Jaguar Foundation, represented by Laís D’Isep (Seed Production Analyst) participated in the 2nd Annual Redário Conference, which brought together 22 different seed collectives in Brazil! Many interesting and engaging workshops were also offered as part of their “Weaving Webs and Spreading Seeds”  project, which took place in parallel to the conference.  

The event consisted of three days filled with activities, workshops, and lectures in the city of Alto Paraíso de Goiás, bringing together representatives from 22 seed networks from all over Brazil.

“Weaving Networks and Spreading Seeds” Project

With the aim of strengthening and structuring seed collector groups in the Cerrado region, the workshops covered topics such as communication, teamwork, and gender equity.

Here’s a glimpse of what Ana Lúcia and Eunice, collectors from the Araguaia Seed Network, learned during these first days:

The project is implemented by the Cerrado Seed Network and financed by the Resilient Cerrado Project – CERES, through the Fund for the Promotion of Ecossocial Productive Landscapes (PPP-ECOS) managed by the Population Society Nature Institute (ISPN).

II Annual Meeting of the Redário Seed Network

The Redário offers a space for Seed Networks and their partners to come together. By collecting seeds together with local communities, they are able to strengthen the economic market, present innovative solutions, and scale up ecological restoration in Brazil.

At the meeting, representatives from 22 Seed Networks, as well as researchers and other partners, were present to promote the exchange of experiences and contribute to establishing a structure for the Redário.

The event’s activities included: presentations by each of the Seed Networks present, seed collection, processing, and storage, legislation and formalising seed networks, and group discussions on public policies.

Read what Ana Lúcia and Eunice have to share with us about the knowledge gained during the Redário Meeting:

“These meetings are extremely important for us because they allow us to share and learn from other collectives that have been active for a longer time. This way, we can generate an even greater positive impact with the Araguaia Seed Network!”

Have a look at what Ana Lúcia and Eunice have to share with us about the knowledge gained during the Redário Meeting:

These meetings are extremely important for us because they allow us to share and learn from other collectives that have been active for a longer time. This way, we can generate an even greater positive impact with the Araguaia Seed Network!

Would you like to support this and other initiatives of the Black Jaguar Foundation? Join the First 600 and become part of our movement!

JOIN US!