The first Forest Restoration Seminar was held at the Rio de Janerio State Environmental Department (INEA) last November.

Spearheaded by the Eco Atlantica Organization, REGUA and INEA; the aim was to present the restoration efforts by five well known environmental projects occurring in Rio de Janeiro state.   The INEA had an opportunity to share its own agenda emphasizing its intention of increasing forest cover from the current 17% of Atlantic Rainforest to 20 % in the next decade.

By presenting results and discussing issues and objectives, the Seminar identified financial continuation and the difficulty of planting forests in private land as the main hurdles to overcome.   However the presentations showed that the participating projects have become more efficient and better at their work to contribute towards overall conservation in their local areas.

The organizations taking part, ITPA, Mico Leão Dourado, Onda Verde, Crescente Fértil, REGUA and Ferroport have contributed to forming 2,000 hectares of forests over the last decade and the opportunity of such a Seminar to discuss the successes, failures and opportunities will help encourage future initiatives. The cooperation and support by the government and private institutions will be a driving force to meet those demands and such Seminars are valuable events for the framework of the overall plan.

Nicholas and Raquel Locke