Forestry Investment News
Conservationists add land to rainforest reserve
07/10/2013
A Brazilian rainforest reserve has increased in size by an extra 237 acres to expand the protection offered to hundreds of rare species that live there.
Two properties were added to the Serra Bonita Reserve, where a record 458 different types of trees were discovered on an area the size of a football pitch during the 1990s. The new additions to the reserve are home to a rare breed of monkey, the yellow-breasted capuchin, and six rare types of birds.
The land, part of the Atlantic rainforest, was bought by the Rainforest Trust, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and Instituto Uiraçu, with additional funding from conservation charities.
David Younkman of the ABC said: “This project adds irreplaceable acreage to a high-priority conservation area. With more than 93 percent of the Atlantic Rainforest already lost, we cannot afford to lose any more of these forests with their precious diversity of birds, monkeys, butterflies, and thousands of other species.”
The reserve is based in a mountain range which is covered by either pristine or secondary forest, which has been sustainably regenerated after a previous disturbance. It is part of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome, which is one of the world’s five top species-rich biomes, but it is also one of the most at risk. An estimated 93 per cent of Atlantic Forest cover has disappeared, mainly during the last half century.
Charities are now aiming to raise money to buy more blocks of forest to add to the reserve. The land is divided almost equally between pristine and secondary forest, in different stages of regrowth. The secondary areas are a mixture of maturing trees and ‘cabruca’ – a type of forestry where farmers plant cacao trees in between thinned out native trees - and pasture land.
The Serra Bonita reserve is generating its own income to maintain and conserve the forest by offering accommodation to researchers, bird watchers and green tourists.
Two properties were added to the Serra Bonita Reserve, where a record 458 different types of trees were discovered on an area the size of a football pitch during the 1990s. The new additions to the reserve are home to a rare breed of monkey, the yellow-breasted capuchin, and six rare types of birds.
The land, part of the Atlantic rainforest, was bought by the Rainforest Trust, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and Instituto Uiraçu, with additional funding from conservation charities.
David Younkman of the ABC said: “This project adds irreplaceable acreage to a high-priority conservation area. With more than 93 percent of the Atlantic Rainforest already lost, we cannot afford to lose any more of these forests with their precious diversity of birds, monkeys, butterflies, and thousands of other species.”
The reserve is based in a mountain range which is covered by either pristine or secondary forest, which has been sustainably regenerated after a previous disturbance. It is part of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome, which is one of the world’s five top species-rich biomes, but it is also one of the most at risk. An estimated 93 per cent of Atlantic Forest cover has disappeared, mainly during the last half century.
Charities are now aiming to raise money to buy more blocks of forest to add to the reserve. The land is divided almost equally between pristine and secondary forest, in different stages of regrowth. The secondary areas are a mixture of maturing trees and ‘cabruca’ – a type of forestry where farmers plant cacao trees in between thinned out native trees - and pasture land.
The Serra Bonita reserve is generating its own income to maintain and conserve the forest by offering accommodation to researchers, bird watchers and green tourists.
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