British artist Josef O’Connor has teamed up with our UK partner the World Land Trust to help save 20 hectares of Atlantic Forest in the Guapiaçu valley. Josef is selling edition prints of his work entitled Going, Going, Gone, currently on display as Lot 44 at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition in London.
Centuries of deforestation have left a mere 7% of the original Atlantic Forest area standing, and what is left remains highly threatened. With generous donations, REGUA is able to purchase areas of Atlantic Forest in the Guapiaçu valley as well as reforest cleared areas to connect these fragments, restoring deforested land and preserving the Atlantic Forest’s unique biodiversity.
Going, Going, Gone features a visual representation of the area to be purchased. Lot 44 is a screen-print onto an aerial photograph of the region, with 100 prints available at £400 each to raise £20,000. Each print sold in the edition equates to 0.5 acres.
Josef is hoping that environmentally conscious art lovers will help him raise funds to save this area of forest. “We all know our way of life is killing the planet, so we have a clear choice – either take responsibility for our actions and work together to bring about positive change, or face the stark reality that the ecosystems we all rely on will soon be lost forever. Going, Going, Gone was conceived to encourage people to be part of the solution. It’s a great opportunity to be part of something truly transformational, so I’m hopeful it will really appeal to those determined to make a difference.”
Going, Going Gone by Josef O’Connor will be on show until 3rd January 2021, and prints of Lot 44 to raise funds for this appeal are available for purchase here.
Yet another year has passed and Raquel and I, on behalf of everyone at the REGUA project, would like to share this update that is just full to the brim of encouraging news.
The mission statement of the project is the conservation of the Guapiaçu watershed achieved through the implementation of four principle programmes; protection; restoration; education and research.
Land Purchase is a visceral part of REGUA’s protection programme and in 2019 REGUA purchased or (at the time of writing) is in the process of finalising the purchase of various parcels of land to integrate into the Reserve of 338.5 hectares/846.25 acres. This would not be possible without the continued generosity of our supporters.
REGUA employs 10 rangers from the local community and their work consists of principally patrolling the forests along 45km of the reserve’s trail network. The aim of the patrolling is to show REGUA presence and discourage hunting. Coming from the local community the rangers are able to share news and discuss any concerns which enables them to be part of the decisions made and work done here. Sponsorship supports some of our rangers enabling us to increase our team as land purchase increases the size of the reserve.
REGUA continues to reforest as part of its programme in habitat restoration. The project has now planted over 520,000 trees since 2005. Tree planting is not an easy task, but with support from many individuals, and grants from companies and supportive conservation organisations, REGUA has planted tough areas and results are heart-warming. Increasing the overall forest cover, reducing edge effect, and creating and strengthening forest corridors, which offer greater areas for biodiversity, are vital.
Our education programme thrives with the out-reach programme to local schools meeting over 2,270 children. We have 19 enthusiastic young people in our young ranger programme and have met just under 200 school teachers and received 80 tutors on our teacher courses. All of which continues to spread our message of conservation and the value of the wonderful landscape and biodiversity in to the local communities.
Over 2,000 individuals have participated in training courses and research work at REGUA and our reputation with major universities continues to grow.
The results have led to protocols in tree monitoring established by the RJ Government; on-going experimental plots; long term monitoring plots to measure tree growth; carbon sequestration studies; seed exchange and hosting technical workshops at REGUA as well invitation to participate in seminars and congresses.
Our protection and increased continuous forest, made REGUA a suitable project to launch the tapir reintroduction programme, a fact which we feel is an clear endorsement of the work we are doing. The reintroduction project is run by the Rio de Janeiro University. REGUA currently has nine tapirs roaming in the nearby local forests. This attracts public attention and reflects the value of a safe nature reserve. Sadly things are not always straightforward and two casualties showed that bats, anaemia and infections are to be reckoned with.
Tourism at REGUA has continued to increase as a result of its reputation spread by word of mouth, internet and social media promotion, report writing and reviews. The Lodge offers comfortable accommodation, and guiding helps to make for a pleasurable and productive time. The bird life continues to attract visitors and groups from around the globe, but similarly dragonfly, butterfly and amphibian groups are visiting. Rio is an international hub and makes the REGUA an easy place to visit being just under two hours from the airport with a remarkably preserved habitat.
Our plans for the future are clear, we have to keep developing and promoting our work independently. REGUA wishes to expand and consolidate through land purchase and complementary programmes. Tourism continues to be an essential component of REGUA’s fund-raising.
The conservation principles and ethos has attracted political interest and with the aim of securing water resources, the Government has declared the Guapiaçu watershed as strategically important for conservation.
Brazil continues to be a key area for global conservation, but it’s not an easy country to work in. Located in a global “hotspot”, the Atlantic rainforest biome, located in an “Important Bird Area” (IBA) as defined by Birdlife International, REGUA is an “Outpost of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve”.
Perhaps REGUA is not pristine habitat nor is it the home to some of the more charismatic species instantly recognised by the general public, but our main contribution is that we are repairing and organising damaged ecosystems. REGUA is showing that this different approach, will one day be vital for repairing tropical forests around the globe.
Three RPPNs areas have been constituted and two more are waiting to be approved, taking us up to second position in the State list of protected private areas. Our conservation efforts are being recognised and they are a source of inspiration to people visiting anxious to see what the fuss is all about!
This year REGUA was able to put more land into protection, plant more trees, publish more science and receive more visitors. As a result we are influencing public politics as to the regional importance of this Guapiaçu watershed and encouraging others to follow us.
We could not be prouder of our efforts. We would like to wish everyone a very Happy Xmas and a wonderful New year.
King Vulture photographed by Marco Wood-Bonelli
Here’s to a great year ahead – and hoping for more great sightings like the King Vulture photographed by Marco Wood-Bonelli in September 2019!
One of our UK supporters recently sent me a link that brought attention to this article produced on the Nature Research organisation website. The paper was written by four British experts who, in their view, state that carbon storage can only be long term effectively reached through planting native forests of mixed species.
They studied the results of the BONN challenge (IUCN and German Government), planting 20 million trees to combat climate change, and noted that efforts have been concentrated in three core activities; single species timber forestry, area abandonment and agroforestry. Their conclusion is that the net effect of these actions is not the same as planting forests of mixed species. The authors conclude existing forest protection, ecoservice payments and investments in natural forest restoration for biodiversity are the only long term solutions to store carbon effectively and combat climate change.
Our friend Robin Chazdon (who has visited REGUA a couple of times) and other eminent experts recently published a paper on the same website, titled “Forests, when natural regeneration is unrealistic” in response to this article and their view that single species forestry and agroforestry cannot be dismissed as a means to reach to meet the global temperature reduction targets. They call for innovative practices and policies to reach to long term solutions and draw attention to the socio-economic demands and benefits, that old interface of community and our natural world.
This is yet more evidence, to encourage us to continue in our goal to protect, regenerate and restore the forests in our part of the Atlantic forest and to work with local communities, encouraging others to join in this vital project.
Our efforts in tree planting often seem staggering, but such is our ambition at REGUA. We see degraded land as a burden to the planet and certain of our argument – that there is no way to justify the destruction of tropical forests or even search for their sustainable use. Why? We do not know how they work as an ecosystem and it erases just too many life forms that depended on it. That cannot be responsibility!! Forests and the species that depend on it around the globe are suffering and at REGUA, we are trying to grow them back. Not so easy!!
We are so fortunate to have friends, trustees, professors, students, volunteers, staff, community members and children that also share this view. They all want to help us help us understand how it works and help us to restore the areas devoid of forest.
This hard work provides opportunities in labour for the local community but more importantly, they gain pride in creating a more beautiful place. Responsibility is shared and though there may be a minimum that see disrespect for the hard work their ancestors put into harnessing land, today their grandchildren understand that forests teem with life, biodiversity and of course, produce water.
REGUA is very pleased to announce that SavingSpecies, a United States based organisation, helped REGUA to acquire an essential parcel of land to allow us to create a biodiversity corridor. This six hectare plot, located close to REGUA, was essential to connect the 2,500 hectare forested Vecchi ridgeline to the 200 hectare Onofre Cunha land already owned and protected by REGUA.
Mapping by Lorena Asevedo
Onofre Cunha will now be connected to the main reserve of 6,700 hectare of REGUA. One can see the strategic importance of this small sliver of land on the map. In a short time we will begin to create a forested corridor allowing birds and animals to move through and beyond.
SavingSpecies is an environmental organization that looks primarily at building biodiversity corridors as seen with the successful Golden Lion Tamarin project. There, increasing access for these emblematic primates has allowed them to colonise ever greater areas in Silva Jardim, less than 60km away from REGUA.
This new purchase, in a mixed landscape with farmland and fragmented forests, the linking of these remnants is really the only hope for gene pools of stranded biodiversity to move around.
We are incredibly grateful to Brian and Liz who instantly shared our belief that where there is a will there is a way!
Thank you to SavingSpecies, Stuart, Clinton, Erin and all. You show that there is hope and that it is possible to change the world we live in.
It’s amazing how things can change in a year. It’s just over a year since I was last at REGUA, and so much has happened.
Most noticeable to the lodge visitor is the tapir release project where five Lowland or Brazilian Tapir (TapirusTerrestris) have been released at the nearby wetlands, they often make the short trip up to the lodge garden. It is surreal to see guests at night photographing moths at the moth wall, with a rather large mammal wandering past on its evening patrol, both seemingly unaware of the other.
The Tapir have managed to get food off the garden feeding stations so a suspended higher-level table has now been made. The Common Marmoset (Callithrixjacchus) were a little perplexed initially but soon mastered the art of a trapeze-style dash across the wires. Some continue the more traditional approach – head first down a nearby tree.
The lodge orchid garden continues to develop, and with ferns and bromeliads amongst the rocks it makes a breeding area for house wren and feeding area for hummingbirds, the lantana and milkweed are doing well, again both favourites with the hummingbirds.
Other changes may not directly affect our lodge guests but they are making a huge difference to local visitors, including school visits, with a new car park by the conservation centre – hopefully no more buses getting stuck in the mud! A new accessible trail has been created to Amanda’s hide, bringing opportunities where previously it would have been impossible for some people to enjoy the delights of the wetlands.
On the project itself, we reached the milestone figure of 500,000 trees planted and continue to plant – over 69,000 trees were planted in the 2017/18 planting season alone, thanks to the generous donations from many of our supporters.
Wouldn’t one million trees planted be a great figure to reach in the future!
With more key land areas coming under REGUA’s care, increased wildlife corridors are being protected and created in the Guapiaçu catchment area. This will extend the range for many species of wildlife and enable them to strengthen in population, increase genetic diversity and increase the overall biodiversity of the valley.
Our Rangers continue to patrol the forest, adding security and monitoring the wildlife, whilst there has been a huge reduction in hunting in the area since the project began, we cannot stop our vigilance even though there is very little evidence of hunting seen or heard now.
If you would like to support REGUA’s work, full details on how to make a donation are available from our “donate” page here.
If you would like to volunteer, please see our link here for full details.
Last month REGUA secured yet another small property within the Lagoinha farm located at 600 metres above sea level with breath-taking views down the valley.
Though located within the Fatorelli farm and inside the Três Picos Park, Carlinho had acquired the occupational rights twelve years ago and over the years had made two simple houses and some plantations. The opportunity of securing this area helps reduce the pressure within the valley and Carlinho was very happy to invest in another property elsewhere.
REGUA has the mission to secure as much forest as possible and the purchase of the Fatorelli title revealed 10 owners in the property with occupational rights.
REGUA is slowly working to compensate those farmers like Carlinho wishing to vacate and allow the forests of this beautiful valley to return.
Thanks to Rainforest Trust for donating the funds for this purchase.
The amazing thing about planting trees is that they will grow with a little effort, dedication and perseverance.
The area of the Matumbo Gap acquired by the Danish Travel Fund is an example of such an area. Planted in early 2017, the area a year later has already closed and the grass has virtually gone, crowded out by the strong saplings as they drink up the generous Brazilian rainfall throughout the summer, and grow towards our sunlight .
REGUA planted over 25,000 trees in this area some of which were also funded by the World Land Trust’s “Forests of the Future” initiative.
The mix of over 150 native species are growing very well and REGUA has engaged the Rio Rural University in monitoring plant plots to measure growth.
REGUA and the Fatorelli family signed the deeds to the Lagoinha valley on 14th January 2018, at long last completed this delicate land purchase. The Rainforest Trust has not only been totally supportive but also very generous and patient, helping us to maintain the calm and vigour required during the entire period of negotiation. This has been one of the most complex and delicate land deals we have been engaged in, but through gentle persistence we managed to secure the property at an affordable value. I still feel fairly faint with the completion of this ultra-sensitive land purchase.
The story behind the scenes is really of soap opera magnitude. The Fatorelli property has a title that extends over the entire Lagoinha valley and this valley is located between two adjacent tracts of Atlantic Forest. Since the 1940s the property has been occupied by 40 tenant farmers working and living off the land. They have simple houses and undertake slash and burn agriculture causing serious habitat damage, some still hunt and the impact on the valley’s biodiversity is severe and one in conflict with REGUA’s objectives.
Over recent years farmers’ interests have declined and many wish to leave the valley and follow their family, moving to the nearby towns.
Tenant rights in Brazil are transferable and outsiders can buy plots on which to build second homes, attracting opportunistic local city dwellers to the area. The construction of second houses attracts others and ultimately poses a problem for the long term conservation aims of the Guapiaçu watershed along with many other areas of the world.
Limited energy and vehicle access are two factors that have helped reduce the threat locally up to now, but the availability of cheap plots and desire for second homes can abruptly change the scenario. This has been seen in the more accessible areas around the village of Guapiaçu in just the last decade.
Following the successful World Land Trust sponsored ‘Matumbo Gap’ land purchase, REGUA has addressed this issue, sought support and reached fair agreements to compensate those occupying the land and enabling them to vacate their properties. This gives REGUA the opportunity to protect the forest and allow it to recover.
REGUA is home to 11 species classified by the IUCN as Threatened – Brown-backed Parrotlet, White-necked Hawk, Golden-tailed Parrotlet, White-bearded Antshrike, Salvadori’s Antwren, Fork-tailed Tody-Tyrant, Russet-winged Spadebill, Bare-throated Bellbird, Black-backed Tanager, Buffy-fronted and Temminck’s Seedeaters are all classified as Vulnerable. A further 26 species at REGUA are classified as Near-Threatened further 28 bird species at REGUA are classified as near-threatened. In addition it is home to several troops of Southern Woolly Spider Monkey or Muriqui Brachyteles arachnoides South America’s largest and rarest primate classified as endangered. Many of these species are decreasing in number giving more urgency to the purchase and protection of the remaining Atlantic Forest.
In theory reserves and parks should not have houses or people living within their limits, but when protected areas are established with tenant farmers already living within, the Government prefers to avoid confrontation and circumnavigates issues permitting tenants to continue their lives and activities on site until they are ready to move.
Tenant farmers are protected by law yet do not have deeds with which to prove ownership. By openly negotiating with the families, explaining the aims and arriving at favourable agreements, the Fatorelli case is felt to be a key success story for the conservation movement in this country.
REGUA’s new full time ranger will regularly walk the Lagoinha valley and REGUA will continue to offer opportunities to those wishing to change their home for one closer to their families. The REGUA reserve continues to expand and guarantee an immense forested corridor to benefit its fauna and flora diversity. This is triumph for the conservation world and shows that sensitive conflict areas occupied by humans can be solved.
After many months of negotiations several important pieces of land were finally successfully negotiated with former Lagoinha valley land owners during 2017. REGUA has been slowly acquiring land in the Lagoinha valley to consolidate a forested corridor between the Primatology reserve and REGUA land.
The valley has been traditionally farmed for over a century and many years ago it was considered inconceivable that REGUA could even embark on the challenging process of acquiring the land owned by over 50 families for the purpose of conservation. Ownership was identified, property limits mapped and the acquisition of each property was negotiated with each of its owners. What appeared a dream many years ago is now reality and REGUA has acquired over 25 small holdings that will now be permanently protected. This has a been a real success story and much is owed to REGUA ranger Messias whose grandfather once owned this large farm as well as his brother Claudio.
REGUA wishes to thank its benefactors Urs Peter and Lindsay Bury who once again provided the valuable funds and with matched funding from Rainforest Trust we secured another area in this precious habitat.
SavingSpecies is a US based charity led by Stuart Pimm and Clinton Jenkins. These are the finest conservation biologists, internationally respected for championing the environment. Stuart and Clinton visited together with a potential donor who may help us acquire an important piece of land to integrate REGUA.
Stuart and Clinton were also visited by UERJ ornithologist Maria Alice Alves who had helped them predict the location of the Grey-winged Cotinga on the mountain tops close by. They also had a chance to hear the conservation status of the Patagonian Hooded Grebe as explained by volunteers Bob and Gaitlin from the US.
The evening conversations flowed and subjects ranged from project development to vision building and funding capacity.
We need “hands-on” locally run environmental projects protecting threatened species and REGUA is all about habitat protection and has been able to include its local communities in the responsibility of the needed conservation work. There is hope!
In partnership with the World Land Trust, REGUA has launched a campaign to raise funds to purchase a highly threatened area of Atlantic Forest located in the Guapiaçu Valley.
Called Paloma Coelho, this 89.5 hectare (221 acre) area of high quality forest is under threat from hunting and deforestation, threatening the survival of the rich flora and fauna found here. In addition the property protects the streams that feed the Guapiaçu River, an important water supply for the local community.
The most effective way to conserve this important area of forest is for REGUA to purchase the land and incorporate it into the reserve. The Olympic Forest Reserve Appeal aims to raise £40,000 to enable this to become a reality. Please help us save this forest by making a donation.
Puro Coffee have been helping REGUA protect the Atlantic Forest in the Guapiacu Valley by providing funds to purchase land to incorporate into the reserve, and have generously purchased a 395 acre forest fragment within the Tres Picos State Park that has helped create a vital corridor with the rest of the reserve (see here). Puro’s Tamara Wolf has been blogging about REGUA. In her latest blog, Tamara tells the story of Adilei Carvalho da Cunha – one of our bird guides. Adilei’s reputation as top bird guide has spread rapidly, and his incredible ability to mimic bird calls has made him quite a celebrity!
At the end of March the latest land purchase at REGUA was completed for another 35 hectares in the Matumbo area. REGUA has been very successful at acquiring a series of small parcels of land in this area, which is essential to provide a safe corridor between the core REGUA reserve and the newer purchases from the brothers Carlos and Ricardo Lemgruber. Pressure on this area continues from small houses and will grow when the track from Guapiaçu to the main Cachoeiras road is paved, which is currently underway. There are still another 50 or so hectares that have been offered for sale in this area, but because of the housing potential unfortunately the price is high at about R$4,000 per hectare (about GB£1,500).
This purchase takes the land owned by REGUA to about 4,500 hectares and was generously funded by The Body Shop and the World Land Trust.
On the 17th July contracts were signed with Carlos and Anna Lemgruber to purchase an area of about 1,700 acres of wonderful forest that adjoins the recently purchased Matumbo Gap properties. This purchase takes the land owned by REGUA to over 11,000 acres, with a further 7,000 acres under a management agreement. The purchase has been made possible by the generous support of the World Land Trust, and especially BIAZA (the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) who are raising funds through a number of their member zoos. However, although the contract has been signed, only half the money has been raised to date and we have been able to go ahead with the purchase thanks to an interest-free loan from one of our long-term supporters. The WLT and BIAZA will be working hard over the next year to pay this loan back, but if you would like to help please visit http://www.worldlandtrust.org/projects/brazil.htm#donation.
The purchase in March of a 40 hectare plot of land brings to the end almost eighteen months of hard work negotiating the purchase of a network of small land holdings to create a corridor of protected land between REGUA and the estate owned by our friend Carlos Lemgruber. In total REGUA has purchased 334 hectares from 12 different families using funds donated by the World Land Trust, American Bird Conservancy and the IUCN National Committee for the Netherlands.
Some of the purchases were extremely complex due to the uncertainty of land boundaries and the number of family members that claimed a share in each plot, however as always, Nicholas’ perseverance and diplomatic skills eventually resolved all the issues. This area is critical to REGUA’s ambition to ultimately join up the reserve with the land owned by the Primatology Centre but it was threatened by the gradual spread of small houses and subsistence farms along the tracks radiating from Matumbo.
These purchases bring the land protected by REGUA to 6,949 hectares, although in reality the actual size is likely to be significantly greater than this as historically land deeds have understated the sizes in order to minimise state taxes. Meanwhile REGUA is already working on its next purchase, the 675 hectare Lemgruber estate using money raised by the World Land Trust and BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums).
The World Land Trust has raised £200,000 for REGUA to purchase 12 small plots of land totalling 326 hectares above the village of Matumbo, to create a safe corridor between existing REGUA land and land owned by REGUA partner Carlos Lemgruber (the ‘Matumbo Gap’). So far the sale of eight of these plots has been completed, and it is hoped that the remaining four will be finalised over the next few weeks. Determining the boundaries and the land ownership for each of the plots has been extremely difficult and time consuming, and many of the plots have multiple family members which make negotiations lengthy and complex. However this is a critical block of land in an area that is facing increased urbanisation and hunting pressure.
