By Nicholas Locke, President of REGUA

[crb_slider]
[crb_slide image=”https://legacy.rainforesttrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Nursery-Sue-Healy.jpg” credits=”REGUA’s nursery, where staff raise trees native to the Atlantic Forest. Photo by Sue Healy” title=”” text=””]

[crb_slider]
[crb_slide image=”https://legacy.rainforesttrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Sue-Healy.jpg” credits=”REGUA staff replanting an area once used for agriculture. Photo by Sue Healy” title=”” text=””]
[/crb_slider]

Much of the Atlantic Forest has been cut down in past centuries to make way for agriculture and development, leading to erosion and a loss of habitat for many species. The staff at REGUA actively replant trees in order to restore what has been lost. In the past years, replanting has been met with great success.

The REGUA reforestation program is occurring at a rate not thought conceivable just ten years ago. We first planted an area of 3 hectares and thought it was hard work. We hadn’t the experience and every time the sun came out, we thought the trees would die. Nevertheless, we persevered, and every year we gained more experience and became better and better at this type of work.

Today we are planting twenty times that area in a year and the REGUA team is divided into three sectors. We have the seed team that procures seeds from the forest, the nursery team that is achieving great uniformity in the production of seedlings and the field team that transports and plants them. Just a century after areas were cut down to make way for pastures, the same areas are being restored to forests.

These forests now generate employment within the local community. They form an ever-larger forest block that offers new habitat for biodiversity, leading to more research opportunities and potential tourism. Gradually, the small fragments of fading forest return offering a safe future for the species found there.
This is the most rewarding work REGUA can do!