Conservation International (CI) is taking part in a massive reforestation effort in the Brazilian region of the Amazon.
A multimillion-dollar, 6-year project will restore 73 million trees in the Brazilian Amazonia region by 2023. Spanning 30,000 hectares of land, the equivalent of the size of 30,000 soccer fields and nearly 70,000 acres, the project is the largest tropical forest restoration in the world. The endeavor will also help Brazil move towards its Paris Agreement target of reforesting 12 million hectares of land by 2030.
“This is a breathtakingly audacious project,” said Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International, one of the organizations behind the initiative. “Together with an alliance of partners, we are undertaking the largest tropical forest restoration project in the world, driving down the cost of restoration in the process. The fate of the Amazon depends on 
getting this right — as do the region’s 25 million residents, its countless species and the climate of our planet.”
The Amazon rainforest is home to the richest biodiversity of any ecosystem on the planet, yet it is rapidly vanishing with increasing global demand for resources. The priority areas for the restoration effort include southern Amazonas, Rondônia, Acre, Pará and the Xingu watershed. Restoration activities will include the enrichment of existing secondary forest areas, sowing of selected native species, and, when necessary, direct planting of native species.
The project is the result of a partnership between CI, the Brazilian Ministry of Environment, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank, the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio) and Rock in Rio’s environmental arm, “Amazonia Live.”
Survey: deforestation has dropped 21% in a year
Deforestation in the region of the Legal Amazon fell 21% between August 2016 and July 2017, in comparison with the previous period. A survey by the Imazon research institute points out that devastation has dropped from 3,579 km² to 2,834 km².
All states in the Legal Amazon region have shown reduction, with Tocantins (56%) standing out with the highest rate. It is followed by the state of Roraima (37%), Acre (32%) and Pará (31%). In addition, the survey indicates that in July this year, 61% of deforestation occurred in private areas or under various other ownership stages.
Source: Conservation International and BrazilGovNews