Restoration of the Atlantic Forest is a major challenge
The Atlantic Forest is one of Brazil's great biomes, but according to the Instituto SOS Mata Atlântica, only 12.4% of the original forest still exists today. With the aim of restoring the biodiversity of the native flora and fauna, several organizations are working in environmental preservation zones and also in the recovery of private areas where the owners are committed to respecting ESG guidelines. And it is precisely in an area of the Atlantic Forest that our start-up Morfo, which uses technology for large-scale reforestation, has inaugurated its work in Brazil, with Instituto Terra e Preservação Ambiental (ITPA) and Cachaça Pindorama as partners.
An innovative project that combines drone planting and manual planting
The project covers 17 hectares of the Fazenda Palmas, in the Vale do Café region of Rio de Janeiro. To speed up planting, Morfo has developed a unique drone planting technique which, to achieve optimum results, must work in collaboration with local organizations. In this 17-hectare project, 75% of the area was replanted by drones and 25% was replanted with the help of local people already working on site. All of this, in record time and with record breaking efficiency.
ITPA provides MORFO with advanced knowledge of the Mata Atlantica biome, access to a nursery that complements drone planting with manual planting, and the recruitment of local people to carry out the manual part of the planting. This Brazilian family organization has over 20 years of experience in tree planting. It has already contributed to the restoration of one million hectares of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most degraded forests in the world.
It is urgent to accelerate our reforestation processes
Morfo offers a large-scale solution for ecosystem restoration, primarily in the tropics and subtropics, and its approach is based on three main pillars:
- Forest engineering, which includes continuous improvement of seed analysis.
- Drone technology, enabling faster access to reforestation areas.
- Project monitoring, which uses artificial intelligence through drone and satellite imagery.
To reach the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's target of 35% of the carbon absorption capacity of forests by 2030, 80 million hectares of new forest would need to be planted every year. However, according to the UN, only 8 million hectares are reforested each year, and it is essential to apply solutions to accelerate this process. In this project, reforestation is concentrated in an area north of the Tinguá Biological Reserve, more precisely in the municipality of Miguel Pereira. This corridor is one of the main sources of fresh water and energy for the city of Rio de Janeiro. The Guandu basin, fed by this corridor, supplies 80% of the city's water and 30% of its energy.
