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What's the deal with the Atlantic Rain Forest?



The Atlantic Rain Forest is the Amazon's little sister.  Less known and more intact.  Just as important to the world and equally in danger.  There is a lot of talk about Amazon biodiversity and the Atlantic Forest shares this quality with the added bonus of higher endemic species present.

The biggest threat to the forest is agriculture with coffee, sugar cane, palms (oil and fruit related to acai berry), various root vegetables, and banana as common crops in addition to Eucalyptus (used to make paper).  Cattle pasture, logging, and fire are major challenges as well.

These human activities cause habitat fragmentation.  Important processes such as seed dispersal, gene flow, and migration patterns are cut off.  This means biomass reduction and mass extinction for endemic species.  Many look to creation of wildlife corridors.  More about this in my post "Farmers vs. Rain Forest Conservation".

Photo here

 Iracambi Research Center founders Robin and Binka came to Brazil once their children had graduated high school to fulfill Robin's dream to cultivate a farm in the tropics.  Here is the rural mountains of Brazil.  They found ambitions to do so much more. 

In her memoir, "Where the Road Ends: A Home in the Brazilian Rainforest", Binka Le Breton details their path to Iracambi.  The wonder, sincerity, and wild hope simply falls off the pages.  It is a great read for anyone wanting a practical look at there own daydreams and a testament to the many ways one can live a life's ambition.

"'People round here are cutting the forest because they can't see it has any value,' he would say. 'But there's got to be a way to make money out of the standing forest without cutting it down.  And that's what I want to figure out." (Le Breton, 2010)

Iracambi means "Land of Milk and Honey" in the Tupi Indian language.  While literal at one time, with Robin running a dairy and keeping bees on the property, it is now more of a metaphor for the hoped for prosperous return of the rain forest to the region.

Iracambi's Mission:

"Working with community leaders to make the conservation of the forest more attractive than its destruction."

Forest 4 Water

Volunteer/Intern Program

Local Workshops





Reference

Le Breton, Binka. (2010). Where the Road Ends: A Home in the Brazilian Rainforest. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

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