ALLCOT Group, Fazenda Terra Boa and Atlântica Simbios CSA sign an agreement to submit to Gold Standard certification a project to restore the Atlantic rainforest

19th November 2018 by CMIA

Allcot Group, Fazenda Terra Boa and Atlântica Simbios CSA have celebrated the signature of a very valuable partnership agreement, with the objective of submitting to Gold Standard certification a project to restore the Atlantic rainforests of 391 hectares located inside the limits of Terra Boa farm property through the planting of approximately 392,725 native trees saplings of at least 80 different species per hectare.

Located in the municipality of Guararapes, state of São Paulo, Brazil, the Terra Boa farm is one of the most (if not the most) recognized experiences of sustainability in the Brazilian rural sector. Still in the 1950s, the farm won the “Conservationist Farm of the State of São Paulo Award”, granted by the State Agriculture Secretariat, for the development of best conservationist practices known at that time. In 2004, it became the first Brazilian farm to obtain ISO 14001 certification. Three years later, the Global Gap of Agricultural Practices. At the end of 2012, it began to meet the requirements of Embrapa’s (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) Good Agricultural Practices Program, which aims at animal welfare, as well as the conservation of natural resources.

This enviable history of sustainability concern and actions guaranteed Terra Boa farm to become ‘Champion of the Champions’ of the First Edition of the ‘Sustainable Farm Award’, the highest award of the Globo Rural magazine initiative with the support of Basf, John Deere and Rabobank, in 2014, a national range contest.

Terra Boa farm is located in a transition region between the Cerrado and Atlantic Rainforest biomes, the latter being predominant locally in its Semideciduous Seasonal Forest phytophysiognomy. Vegetation also known as the “Forest of the Interior”, it reaches the banks of the Paraná River and is currently reduced to small remnants of forests being one of the most degraded forest formations in Brazil. Several studies have pointed out that these formations are perhaps richer in vegetable associations than the tropical rainforest itself, which would be more homogeneous. They are ecologically distinct forests, because they vary according to the seasonality of humidity. The accumulation of litter on the forest floor in the dry season makes the biome vulnerable to fire.

Also the Atlantic Rainforest is identified as the oldest of the Brazilian forests. Representing one of the Top Five biomes in the ranking of biodiversity hotspots, among 36 recognized today, the Atlantic Rainforest was one of the first to be identified by Conservation International. With more than 20,000 plant species, 40% endemic, the Atlantic Rainforest now has less than 10% of its original territory and is highly endangered.

In a world where agricultural and livestock farming is of vital importance to the economies of the developing countries and their populations, but at the same time representing the main vectors of deforestation and loss of biodiversity, the need to prove and establish the viability of sustainable land management from actual experiences is urgent. The experience of sustainable land use and occupation developed by Terra Boa farm must serve as a model to inspire, to be disseminated and multiplied.

Source: http://bit.ly/AllcotGS