TNC will provide 1.5 million dollars in funds to preserve Araucaria Forests - Apr 3, 2005 - 12:16:00 PM

The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a NGO focused on environmental conservation and the MeadWestvaco (MWV) Foundation executed a partnership agreement this week in the state of Santa Catarina (Brazil) in a 500 thousand dollar conservation plan to preserve the Araucaria Forest. For each donated dollar TNC will contribute with two additional dollars from private sources, totaling 1.5 million dollars in the next five years. The initial funds will be used in a number of conservation and forest recovery activities in Southern Paraná and Northern Santa Catarina.
The target area for the Project is considered a priority for the conservation of the Araucaria Forest, one of the ecosystems of the Atlantic Rain Forest. "The TNC challenge is to unite efforts with partners to increase the forest coverage to at least 30% in the area in the next ten years", said Miguel Calmon, the TNC Director.
"It¿s a great honor for MeadWestvaco to support this important conservation effort conducted by TNC in Brazil", said James Buzzard, the MeadWestvaco President, "with a focus on the expansion of the Araucária Forest area, to help preserve the tree that is considered the emblem of Southern Brazil", added he.
According to Paulo Tilkian, the PRESIDENT of Rigesa, the MeadWestvaco subsidiary company in Brazil, "this funding provided by our head offices is in tune with the vision of our company in connection with the sustainable development of our business."
The effort will focus on testing new reforestation models with native species to recover degraded areas and agroforest systems. "We do not wish preclude development; our goal is to provide profitable economic alternatives that are environmentally sustainable", said Fernando Veiga, TNC Environmental Services Coordinator. The agroforest systems models combine native species with other species of economic value. They will be promoted especially with small farmers in order to generate income for local communities. The effort should help producers to become compliant with the environmental laws, which provide that 20% of farms have their biodiversity preserved.
TNC will also work with its partners to promote a dialogue with the forestry sector to build a common vision for businesses and environment advocacy organizations. The aim is to enhance the effectiveness of the ongoing action undertaken by the sector for the conservation of the Araucaria Forest and to expand investments.
The Araucaria Forest is among the most threatened forests worldwide, and currently only 0.8% of its original coverage still exists. Deforestation activity is still intense, due to forest-to-pasture conversion and by loggers interested in native species of high economic value such as the Brazilian Walnut, the trees of the Ocotea species (the "canela") and the araucaria itself.